The Supreme Court has dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Sumit Roy, the personal assistant to Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee. The bench, led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, stated it was not inclined to grant relief and vacated an earlier August order that had stayed his arrest. This clears the way for West Bengal’s Criminal Investigation Department to take him into custody in an alleged land-grabbing case in Salboni, West Midnapore district.
Roy is being investigated under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code for cheating, forgery, use of forged documents, criminal breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy. The West Bengal government told the court that Roy was evasive during earlier interrogations, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated that cash deposits of roughly ₹15 crore have allegedly been traced to him. Following the order, CID officials moved to formally take Roy into custody while he was reportedly inside Banerjee’s residence.