West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas police on Wednesday seized cash worth over ₹ 1.02 crore from a political party’s office while investigating a land grab case in which Sumit Roy, private assistant to Mamata All India Trinamool Congress (MAITC) leader Abhishek Banerjee, is in custody as a prime suspect, police said.
The police, however, did not name the party whose office was searched, though the Trinamool Congress (TMC) came under scrutiny since it occupied a rented office at that address until May this year. The Mamata Banerjee faction of the Trinamool alleged that the money was planted to malign the party. Sumit Roy was arrested on September 10 by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the state police in connection with the land grab case after the Supreme Court denied him anticipatory bail. It said the rented office from which the police claimed to have seized the money was ransacked and vandalised on May 21, days after the Bharatiya Janata Party won the state assembly polls. The MAITC shared a copy of the official police complaint it lodged on May 23. The letter to the Diamond Harbour police station – a copy of which HT saw – mentioned that the premises were handed back to the landlord after the ransacking on May 21.
“Police searched a political party’s office in the Sarisha area following statements Sumit Roy made and seized more than ₹ 1.02 crore,” the district’s additional police superintendent Abhishek Majumdar said.
“Which party ran the office and what role Sumit Roy played are both under investigation,” Majumdar added.
