Sumit Roy, Abhishek Banerjee’s personal assistant.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The West Bengal CID on Thursday (September 10, 2026) detained TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s personal assistant Sumit Roy, soon after the Supreme Court refused his anticipatory bail prayer in a land scam case, officials said.Mr. Roy was picked up by CID officers from Mr. Banerjee’s Kalighat residence here in connection with alleged illegal sale of government land in Salboni, they said.The TMC MP’s aide had been summoned to the State CID headquarters on several occasions in the past regarding the case, after the Supreme Court earlier stayed his arrest and directed him to cooperate with the investigation.Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Mr. Roy.A Bench comprising Chief justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana also vacated its earlier order of August 6 by which it had stayed the arrest of Mr. Roy.The Bench heard the submissions of senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Mr. Roy, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State government before declining relief to the accused.On August 3, the Calcutta High Court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Mr. Roy in connection with the alleged government land fraud case being investigated by Salboni police.The case was registered under penal provisions relating to cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, use of forged documents and criminal conspiracy.The solicitor general had strongly opposed the grant of interim relief, saying Mr. Roy’s custodial interrogation was necessary.The High Court bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh had declined to grant pre-arrest bail in the case.The State counsel had told the High Court that the investigation had unearthed forged title deeds relating to government land.The prosecution alleged that government land had been transferred with the complicity of local political leaders and influential persons. Published - September 10, 2026 02:37 pm IST
