Supreme Court stays arrest of Abhishek Banerjee's aide Sumit Roy in land grab case

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the arrest of Sumit Roy, personal assistant to Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, in connection with the alleged Salboni land grab case.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohan passed the interim order. The Court also directed Roy to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.

"Petitioner (Sumit Roy) shall cooperate with the investigation. His arrest shall remain stayed," ordered the Court.

The case arises out of an investigation into the alleged illegal grabbing and fraudulent transfer of government land in Salboni in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district. Sumit Roy, a personal assistant to TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, has been named as an accused in the case.

In June, a Midnapore court issued an arrest warrant against Roy after the investigating agency informed the court that he could not be traced despite repeated attempts to arrest him. As part of the search, the police had also conducted a raid at Abhishek Banerjee's Kolkata residence, but Roy was not found there.

Earlier this week, the Calcutta High Court rejected Roy's anticipatory bail plea in the land grab case. The High Court held that custodial interrogation could not be ruled out at the current stage of the investigation.

Roy subsequently approached the Supreme Court for relief.

Appearing for Roy, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan today told the top court that his client was willing to cooperate with the investigation.

"The petitioner shall cooperate with the investigation," said Sankaranarayanan.

The plea was opposed by the West Bengal government, whose arguments were led by Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta. Mehta contended that Roy's custodial interrogation was necessary.

The Bench, however, questioned the State's insistence on custodial interrogation despite the petitioner's assurance that he would cooperate with the investigation.

"I hope you are not saying the police is the problem," remarked CJI Kant.

Responding to the observation, SG Mehta said the investigating agency's attempts to arrest Roy had been repeatedly obstructed.

"Whenever we went to arrest him, it was obstructed. The former Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) herself obstructed it," he submitted.

The Court proceeded to stay Roy's arrest, but directed him to cooperate with the probe.

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