Supreme Court extends stay on arrest of TMC MP's aide, to examine police report

The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the stay on the arrest of Sumit Roy, personal assistant to Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, in the Salboni land-grabbing case. The court said it would first peruse a sealed cover report submitted by the police before taking a decision on the West Bengal government's plea for his custodial interrogation.

The West Bengal government had approached the apex court seeking to vacate the protection from arrest given to Roy on August 6, when the court stayed his arrest in the alleged land fraud case. In that order, the court had directed Roy to cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation and remain available for questioning.

During the hearing on Wednesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state, submitted that Roy was not cooperating with the probe and was evading questions. He urged the bench to allow the police to interrogate Roy in custody, arguing that the investigation required his custodial presence.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing Roy, said his client had been appearing before the police as directed and exercised his fundamental right to silence under the Constitution. Justice Joymalya Bagchi, a member of the bench, observed that the Constitution also secured for the investigating agency the right to arrest.

The bench, also led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and comprising Justice V. Mohana, accepted the sealed cover material handed over by the solicitor general. The Chief Justice said he would go through the report before the next hearing. The court then extended the August 6 order staying Roy's arrest.

The case, registered under penal provisions relating to cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, use of forged documents and criminal conspiracy, concerns alleged government land fraud in Salboni. The First Information Report alleged that buyers were induced to purchase government land at discounted rates.

Roy's counsel had earlier submitted before the Calcutta High Court that Roy was not named in the FIR and his name surfaced only during investigation. The counsel argued that there were no banking transactions or electronic communications linking Roy to the alleged offence and said the prosecution was "politically motivated."

The state, however, maintained before the High Court that the investigation had found forged title deeds connected to government land. The prosecution alleged that the land was transferred with the complicity of local political and influential persons.

The Calcutta High Court had on August 3 rejected Roy's anticipatory bail plea.

The Supreme Court, while initially staying Roy's arrest, had ordered that he remain available for investigation from 10 am to 6 pm with usual breaks and that he not be accompanied by any advocate or other person during the probe. The court will now hear the matter after the Chief Justice examines the sealed cover report.