New Delhi, 10 September (H.S.): The Supreme Court has rejected the anticipatory bail plea filed by Sumit Roy, personal aide to Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, in connection with an alleged land-grabbing case. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant declined to interfere with the order passed by the Calcutta High Court.

During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the West Bengal government, submitted that Sumit Roy was allegedly not cooperating with the investigation into the alleged land-grabbing case in Shalboni. He said the police needed to interrogate Roy in custody.

In response, Roy’s counsel, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, submitted that his client had appeared before the police 11 times in compliance with the court’s directions. He said Roy had been questioned for 88 hours and argued that he had the constitutional right to remain silent.

Earlier, on August 6, the Supreme Court had stayed Sumit Roy’s arrest and directed him to join and cooperate with the investigation. Prior to that, the Calcutta High Court had refused to grant him anticipatory bail, observing that at this stage of the investigation, the possibility of custodial interrogation could not be ruled out.

The Shalboni case relates to an alleged fraud and scam involving approximately 300 acres of government land in West Midnapore district.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar