Salboni land grab case: WB tells SC custodial interrogation of Abhishek Banerjee's PA 'needed'

The West Bengal government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that custodial interrogation of Sumit Roy, personal secretary to TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, was needed in the Salboni land grab case as a huge amount of cash had been deposited by him in a bank.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state, told a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana that Roy had been evasive during the investigation.

"I have placed on record the transcripts. There is a detailed investigation and he has been evasive," Mehta told the bench.

The top court is hearing Roy's plea challenging an August 3 order of the Calcutta High Court denying him pre-arrest bail in the Salboni case.

While hearing the matter on August 31, the top court directed the probe agency to produce the relevant record regarding the alleged bank transactions that were put to Roy. It also extended his interim protection from arrest.

During the hearing on Wednesday, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Roy, said that according to news reports, a chargesheet had been filed in the matter.

Mehta said the chargesheet had been filed against another accused, with a specific stipulation that the investigation against Roy was continuing.

Contending that the probe agency needed Roy's custodial interrogation, Mehta said that, according to the investigation, Roy had deposited a huge amount of cash in a bank account. "This may only be a tip of the iceberg," he said, referring to a deposit of Rs 71 lakh.

Arguing that the total amount deposited came to around Rs 15 crore, Mehta said there were a large number of transactions. "A person who is supposed to be the PA is depositing crores of rupees in his name," the top law officer said.

The bench asked Mehta to provide a copy of the report filed in court to Roy's counsel and posted the matter for hearing on Thursday.

On September 7, the top court permitted the West Bengal government to file a detailed investigation report in a sealed cover in support of its claim that Roy was not cooperating with the police in the ongoing probe.

Mehta had told the bench that he wanted to file a "detailed interrogation" report of Roy.

On August 6, the top court had stayed Roy's arrest in connection with the matter.

Earlier, Shankarnarayanan had said the entire interrogation had been videographed and Roy had answered all questions put to him.

Correcting an earlier submission that Roy had exercised his right to remain silent, the senior lawyer had said an additional affidavit filed before the bench showed that Roy had not invoked the right against self-incrimination and had cooperated fully with the investigation.

He alleged, however, that investigators had largely questioned Roy about his family and the functioning, recruitment and funding of the Trinamool Congress rather than the offence for which he was being investigated.

On August 3, the high court rejected Roy's anticipatory bail plea in the alleged land fraud case being investigated by the police.

The case was registered under penal provisions relating to cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, use of forged documents and criminal conspiracy.

(With inputs from PTI)