Kolkata: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police on Saturday informed a district court in West Midnapore that Sumit Roy, personal assistant to Trinamool Congress general secretary and Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee, had deposited Rs 7 crore in the party’s accounts.
Sumit, along with former Trinamool legislator Sujoy Hazra and others, was earlier arrested in connection with an illegal land-grabbing case at Salboni in West Midnapore district. The charges involved creating and selling government-vested land using fake documents.
Produced in court on Saturday, Sumit reportedly told investigators that on the instructions of the Diamond Harbour MP, a person named T. Ghosh, described as the MP’s treasurer, gave him the money to deposit in the Trinamool party fund. He denied receiving money from the land scam but admitted visiting Salboni multiple times on party instructions, according to documents submitted by the CID.
In the chargesheet filed earlier this month against Sujoy Hazra, CID officers mentioned that Sumit deposited around Rs 7 crore in a specific account at a public sector commercial bank in Kolkata between 2018 and 2021. The account was registered in the name of the West Bengal Trinamool Youth Congress.
CID insiders said: “When Sumit deposited the money in the party’s account instead of his own, it cannot be his own decision. That is why we want to record the statement of T. Ghosh.”
Confirming the progress of the investigation, public prosecutor Syed Nazim Habib told reporters that further interrogation of Sumit, Hazra, and others was required. “We applied for seven days of CID custody. Sumit’s counsel initially applied for bail but later withdrew it. The court ordered five days of CID custody for the arrested persons,” Habib said.
(IANS)
