The West Bengal Crime Investigation Department on September 10, 2026, detained Sumit Roy, personal assistant to Trinamool Congress national general secretary and Member of Parliament Abhishek Banerjee, shortly after the Supreme Court rejected his anticipatory bail petition in a government land scam case. State CID officers picked up Roy from Banerjee's Kalighat residence in Kolkata, taking him into custody following the apex court's refusal to shield him from arrest.
The detention comes after a three-judge Supreme Court bench formally vacated a prior interim stay that had protected Roy from police action. The legal proceedings center on allegations of illegal land grabbing and fraudulent transfers of West Bengal government property in Salboni, located in the state's Paschim Medinipur district, with investigators probing whether proceeds from the land sales were funneled into political accounts.
Supreme Court Rejects Pre-Arrest Protection
A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohana dismissed the anticipatory bail plea filed in the matter of Sumit Roy versus State of West Bengal. The bench declined to interfere with an earlier order by the Calcutta High Court that had denied pre-arrest protection to Roy, concluding that the circumstances did not justify granting equitable relief.
In dismissing the petition, the apex court vacated its interim order passed on August 6, 2026, which had temporarily stayed Roy's arrest while directing him to cooperate with state investigators. With the stay lifted, the CID executed the detention order directly from the high-profile Kalighat address, where Roy was stationed.
Interrogation Report Points to Contemporaneous Cash Deposits
During the hearing in New Delhi, the Supreme Court examined a detailed interrogation report submitted by West Bengal state authorities. The judges noted that witness statements collected by investigators indicated illicit funds generated from the Salboni land sales were physically handed over to Roy, after which contemporaneous cash deposits were recorded in bank accounts.
Addressing the defense arguments regarding financial trails, Justice Joymalya Bagchi remarked, "The confirmation is that you have not deposited large volumes of cash in your personal account. But there were contemporaneous deposits in the account of a political party." Representing the investigating authorities, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the line of questioning is the sole prerogative of the investigating agency and maintained that courts should refrain from hair-splitting during ongoing criminal inquiries.
Defense Outlines 88 Hours of Questioning Without Direct Evidence
Appearing for Roy, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan argued strongly against the need for custodial interrogation, informing the bench that his client had already undergone 88 hours of questioning across 11 separate appearances at the state CID headquarters. Sankaranarayanan emphasized that despite extensive interrogation, no incriminating material had been produced directly linking Roy to the alleged fraudulent transactions.
The defense highlighted that Roy was neither named in the original First Information Report nor confronted during questioning with any forged land documents, victims, or specific complainants. Sankaranarayanan told the court that investigators had focused their inquiries almost exclusively on cash deposits made into the All India Trinamool Congress account, which he noted are fully audited and submitted periodically to the Election Commission of India.
Defense Alleges Political Vendetta Following May 5 Election Results
Sankaranarayanan further pointed out that Roy's personal bank account, which was opened in 2019, showed a maximum single deposit of only Rs 60,000, arguing that there was no personal financial enrichment. He characterized the criminal proceedings as a political vendetta, noting that 16 separate FIRs were registered by authorities in rapid succession immediately following election results on May 5.
Challenging the necessity of custodial detention, Sankaranarayanan stated before the court, "I am admittedly the personal assistant to one of the important leaders of the opposing party. That cannot be the reason why May 5 becomes a trigger for FIRs being registered left, right and centre... What is custodial interrogation going to achieve now?" The bench, however, determined that the findings detailed in the state interrogation report warranted allowing the investigation to proceed without pre-arrest protection.
Custodial Interrogation to Proceed in Kalighat Land Scam Probe
Following the dismissal of the petition, CID officers executed the detention at Banerjee's Kalighat residence to bring Roy in for formal custodial questioning. Roy had previously attended multiple summonses at the CID headquarters in Kolkata under the protection of the Supreme Court's August 6 interim order.
With the pre-arrest protection vacated by the apex court, state investigators are set to process Roy's custody and proceed with detailed interrogation regarding the Salboni property transactions, financial records, and witness statements gathered during the multi-month probe.
