Kolkata: The West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested Sumit Roy, the personal assistant of Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee, following the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss his anticipatory bail plea.
The arrest comes in connection with an ongoing investigation into an alleged land grab and forgery case tied to the Salboni area. A large contingent of police and CID sleuths reached Banerjee’s residence in Kolkata’s Kalighat locality and took Roy into custody, subsequently shifting him to Bhawani Bhawan, the state CID headquarters, for detailed questioning.
The legal proceedings leading up to the arrest unfolded after the Calcutta High Court earlier rejected Roy’s plea for pre-arrest protection. Challenging that directive, Roy moved the Supreme Court, where state authorities strongly opposed any relief. During the hearings before a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta—appearing for the state—argued that custodial interrogation was vital because the accused had been evasive during earlier rounds of questioning.
State counsel presented detailed interrogation records and financial documents to the apex court in a sealed cover, alleging substantial cash deposits running into crores. Prosecutors claimed that the initial findings regarding unexplained bank transactions were merely the “tip of the iceberg,” necessitating deeper custodial probe into the financial network surrounding the case.
Conversely, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing Roy, maintained that his client had cooperated with the investigative process and answered queries put forward by the agency. With the Supreme Court refusing to interfere with the lower judicial orders and dismissing the anticipatory bail plea, legal barriers to his arrest were cleared. State investigators are expected to produce Roy before a local court to seek further police remand as the probe into the Salboni land controversy continues to widen.