Sarisha, Diamond Harbour: West Bengal's South 24 Parganas police on Wednesday seized cash worth over Rs 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. A television news report put the exact amount recovered at Rs 1,02,79,000 and said information obtained during Roy's questioning led investigators to the premises in Sarisha.

Source: Hindustan Times via Vijaya Chronicle

"Police searched a political party's office in the Sarisha area following statements Sumit Roy made and seized more than Rs 1.02 crore," the district's additional superintendent of police Abhishek Majumdar said. "Which party ran the office and what role Sumit Roy played are both under investigation," Majumdar added.

The police did not name the party whose office was searched. The Trinamool Congress came under scrutiny since it occupied a rented office at that address until May this year, the Hindustan Times report said. Investigators are examining the source of the cash, why it was kept at the office and who operated the premises.

Earlier developments in the wider case

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. In the development reported earlier, he was shown as arrested on October 28 by Diamond Harbour police in an alleged Rs 400-crore soil-theft case and was remanded to 10 days of police custody on October 31. The allegations against him have not been established by any court.

Trinamool alleges the cash was planted

The Mamata Banerjee faction of the Trinamool alleged that the money was planted to malign the party. 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, and it shared a copy of the police complaint it lodged on May 23. The letter to the Diamond Harbour police station mentioned that the premises were handed back to the landlord after the May 21 ransacking.

Arka Nag, one of the MAITC's lawyers, alleged that Roy was interrogated till 3 am on Wednesday, was taken to a place where he was asked to enter a building which he refused, was then taken to the Diamond Harbour Women's University building and brought back, and found police counting money at the first building and later at Diamond Harbour police station. Nag alleged policemen told Roy he would be killed in an encounter if he did not cooperate, said the party apprehended an attack on Roy and would move court, and added: "Planting any sort of evidence is a crime. We urge the police to stay within the ambit of the law." These are the lawyer's allegations; the South 24 Parganas police did not make any statement on Nag's allegation, the report said.

Source: Republic TV report