The New Indian Express ·
Politics
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s PA Sumit Roy arrested by West Bengal CID
KOLKATA: The West Bengal CID on Thursday afternoon arrested Sumit Roy, personal assistant (PA) to Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, from the latter’s residence in Kalighat.
The arrest came barely two hours after the Supreme Court rejected Roy’s anticipatory bail plea in the alleged Salboni land-grab case in West Midnapore district. The case relates to the alleged sale of Bengal government land and the deposit of the proceeds into the party’s account.
Roy was taken to the CID headquarters at Bhabani Bhaban in Alipore soon after his arrest. Police will produce him before a court in Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas district on Friday and seek his custody for interrogation in connection with the land-grab case.
Sources said the CID, along with the Special Task Force (STF), had prepared to raid Abhishek’s residence at 121 Kalighat Road, where Roy had been staying. The team reached the premises and arrested Roy within an hour.
There was allegedly a scuffle between security personnel at the MP’s residence and the CID team when the latter sought entry into the complex to arrest Roy.
The officials were seen knocking on the large collapsible gate and asking those inside to open it. After several minutes, a security guard opened the gate and allowed the team to enter. Roy was arrested when he came out.
Earlier on Thursday, a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana rejected Roy’s plea for anticipatory bail and also cancelled its August 6 order staying his arrest.
The bench heard submissions from senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Roy, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the state government, before declining relief to the accused.
The Calcutta High Court had on August 3 rejected Roy’s anticipatory bail plea in the alleged government land fraud case being investigated by Salboni police station.
The case was registered under penal provisions relating to cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, use of forged documents and criminal conspiracy. The state had opposed interim relief, arguing that Roy’s custodial interrogation was necessary.
The high court bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh had declined to grant him pre-arrest bail. The state counsel had told the court that the investigation had unearthed forged title deeds relating to government land. The prosecution alleged that government land was transferred with the complicity of local political leaders and influential persons.
During the Supreme Court hearing on Wednesday, the Bengal government argued that Roy’s custodial interrogation was necessary as he had allegedly deposited crores of rupees in cash in a bank account.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench 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 was hearing Roy’s plea challenging the August 3 order of the high court denying him pre-arrest bail in the Salboni case.
While hearing the matter on August 31, the Supreme Court had directed the probe agency to produce the relevant records regarding the alleged bank transactions put to Roy and had extended his interim protection from arrest.
During Wednesday’s hearing, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Roy, said that according to news reports, a chargesheet had been filed in the matter. Mehta, however, 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 the investigation had found that Roy 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.
Mehta said the total amount deposited came to around Rs 15 crore and that 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 Solicitor General told the court.
(With PTI inputs)
