The Supreme Court on September 10, dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Sumit Roy, personal assistant to Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee, in connection with the Salboni land-grabbing case in West Bengal.
The case was heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana. The Court had earlier protected Roy from arrest and directed him to cooperate with the investigation.
Background of the Case
Roy had approached the Supreme Court after the Calcutta High Court rejected his request for anticipatory bail on August 3. The case concerns allegations relating to government land transactions and includes accusations concerning cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, use of forged documents and criminal conspiracy.
The State had opposed pre-arrest protection, arguing that Roy’s custodial questioning was required for the investigation. The Supreme Court had subsequently directed that details of his interrogation be placed before it.
Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Roy, argued that his client had already been questioned for around 88 hours and had cooperated with the investigation. He questioned the need for further custodial interrogation and disputed the allegations concerning cash deposits.
He also submitted that Roy had not been shown documents or witnesses directly connecting him with the alleged transactions.
"The petitioner has never been confronted with any complainant or victim who alleges that payments were made to us. They have questioned me for 88 hours. What is custodial interrogation going to do now? I have repeatedly cooperated," the defence submitted.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State, maintained that Roy had been evasive during the investigation and that the probe had identified cash deposits relevant to the case. The State had earlier placed interrogation records before the Court.
During the hearing, Justice Joymalya Bagchi referred to deposits made around the relevant period in an account associated with the political party and questioned their relevance to the investigation.
The defence maintained that the deposits could not be treated as Roy’s personal transactions and disputed the State’s interpretation of the banking records.
After hearing the parties, the Supreme Court dismissed Sumit Roy’s anticipatory bail plea in the Salboni land-grabbing case.
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