Supreme Court dismisses anticipatory bail of Abhishek Banerjee's aide Sumit Roy in land grab case

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Sumit Roy, personal assistant to Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, in connection with the alleged Salboni land grab case [Sumit Roy vs State of West Bengal].

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana refused to interfere with the Calcutta High Court’s order denying pre-arrest protection, thereby vacating the interim stay on Roy’s arrest granted earlier.

The matter relates to an investigation into the alleged illegal grabbing and fraudulent transfer of government land in Salboni, situated in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district.

During the hearing, the Bench examined the State's interrogation report.

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Roy, submitted that despite undergoing 88 hours of questioning across 11 appearances, no incriminating material had emerged against him.

Sankaranarayanan argued that Roy was neither named in the FIR nor confronted with any forged document, victim, or complainant. He stressed that investigators questioned Roy solely about cash deposits in the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) account, which are audited and duly submitted to the Election Commission of India.

"The confirmation is that you have not deposited large volumes of cash in your personal account. But there were contemporaneous deposits in the account of a political party," Justice Bagchi remarked.

Sankaranarayanan countered that political donations stem from multiple disclosed sources and pointed out that his client’s personal account, opened in 2019, showed a maximum deposit of only ₹60,000. He further alleged political vendetta, noting that 16 FIRs were registered right after election results on May 5.

"I am admittedly the personal assistant to one of the important leaders of the opposing party. That cannot be the reason why May 5 becomes a trigger for FIRs being registered left, right and centre... What is custodial interrogation going to achieve now?" Sankaranarayanan asked.

The Bench, however, noted that witness statements indicated that illicit funds were handed over to Roy, followed by contemporaneous cash deposits in bank accounts.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the investigating authorities, submitted that line of questioning remains the investigator’s prerogative and courts should avoid "hair-splitting" during ongoing probes.

Finding no ground to grant equitable relief, the Court dismissed the petition.

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