Kolkata, Sept. 9 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the West Bengal government's report on its plea for custodial interrogation of Sumit Roy, personal secretary to Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, in an alleged Salboni land fraud case.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant that Roy had allegedly deposited substantial cash into his bank accounts and had remained evasive during questioning. Referring to one transaction, Mehta said Rs 71 lakh had been deposited, while the total transactions under scrutiny amounted to around Rs 15 crore.
The state contended that Roy's custodial interrogation was necessary to uncover the source and nature of the transactions, with Mehta describing the known deposits as potentially "the tip of the iceberg".
Roy's counsel, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, maintained that his client had cooperated with the investigation and that his questioning had been videographed.
The court directed the State to furnish its report to Roy's counsel and posted the matter for Thursday. Roy continues to have interim protection from arrest.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.