Kolkata, Sept. 21 -- Dismissing reports that Sumit Roy admitted to depositing money into Trinamool Congress accounts on Abhishek Banerjee's instructions, Roy's lawyer Agnish Basu said his client had made no such confession and that the deposits were made strictly as per directions of the party treasurer.
Basu met Roy at the CID office on Sunday, where the latter is currently in CID custody. Speaking after the meeting, the lawyer said the party treasurer is responsible for its financial affairs and that Roy deposited money into the party fund whenever he was instructed to do so.
"The party treasurer looks after the financial affairs of the party. Whatever instructions the treasurer gave him, he deposited the money in the party fund accordingly," Basu said, adding that this was also Roy's position during questioning.
The clarification comes a day after the investigating agency allegedly told a Midnapore court that Roy had stated during interrogation that he deposited money into the party fund on Abhishek's instructions.
Basu, however, said there was "no question of a confession", arguing that a confession would arise only if his client had admitted to wrongdoing.
He further claimed that the money deposited by Roy was legitimate party funds, including membership fees. According to him, the funds were deposited into official party accounts, audited annually and the records submitted to the Income Tax Department and the Election Commission.
Basu maintained that Roy had cooperated with the investigation and that whatever was done legally had already been explained to the investigating authorities.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.