Sumit Roy, an aide to Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, appeared before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Bhabani Bhawan on Saturday morning in connection with a land-related corruption case.
Roy, who had remained unavailable to investigators for some time and was facing multiple cases, reached the CID headquarters shortly before 10 am. His appearance came a day after CID officials served a notice at his New Alipore residence asking him to appear for questioning.
Land corruption case led to search for Roy
A case alleging land-related corruption was registered at Shalbani police station, following which police had gone to Abhishek Banerjee’s Kalighat residence in search of Roy. A search was conducted at the premises, but investigators could not locate him.
Roy subsequently approached the courts seeking protection from arrest in several cases. The Calcutta High Court granted him temporary protection in a separate alleged recruitment corruption case, subject to his cooperation with the investigation and appearing before investigators within 10 days.
However, his anticipatory bail plea in the land corruption case was rejected.
Supreme Court grants interim protection
Roy challenged the High Court’s order before the Supreme Court. The apex court subsequently directed that he could not be arrested until the next date of hearing, while making his cooperation with the investigation mandatory.
The Supreme Court also allowed investigators to question Roy between 10 am and 6 pm.
Following the order, CID officials visited his New Alipore residence on Friday and served a notice directing him to appear at Bhabani Bhawan by 10 am on Saturday. Roy complied with the direction.
Two more cases remain pending
Roy is also facing two other cases and has approached the High Court seeking protection from arrest in those matters. He had sought an urgent hearing, but the plea was rejected on Friday by a bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya, which said the matters would be heard according to the scheduled listing.
Earlier, Bishnupur Police had also visited Roy’s residence to serve a notice. The CID later took over the investigations into the cases registered in Shalbani and Bishnupur.
CID officials had subsequently visited his residence as part of the probe, but investigators had been unable to locate him. After securing separate interim protection from the Supreme Court and the High Court, Roy finally appeared before the CID on Saturday and joined the investigation.
Sumit Roy Bhabani Bhawan CID
Abhishek Banerjee aide Land corruption case
Sumit Roy land case Supreme Court protection
CID questioning Sumit Roy Calcutta High Court
Shalbani land corruption case Bishnupur case
Sumit Roy Supreme Court CID investigation Bengal
Sumit Roy arrest protection New Alipore residence
Abhishek aide CID West Bengal politics
Land corruption investigation Sumit Roy pending cases
