Sarisha, South 24 Parganas: Police have recovered cash worth Rs 1,02,79,000 from a Trinamool Congress party office at Sarisha under the Diamond Harbour Police district in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district. Police said the information about the cash came during the interrogation of Sumit Roy, an aide of Trinamool general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, who is in police custody in a multi-crore soil-theft case registered at Kalitala-Ashuti police station in the same district.

Source: IANS

Additional Superintendent of Police Abhishek Majumdar of the Diamond Harbour Police district confirmed that police searched the Sarisha party office following statements made by Roy and seized more than Rs 1.02 crore. Police have not yet established where the cash came from or why it was kept at the office, and say their initial probe links it to the soil-theft case.

Source: Hindustan Times

Banerjee has rejected the police version outright. In a social media post late on Wednesday night and at a press conference in Kolkata on Thursday, he alleged that the cash was deliberately planted by the police administration. He alleged that between 1 am and 3 am, hours before Roy was taken away, an XUV 300 arrived at the scene and planted money there, and said he has evidence to prove it. These are Banerjee's allegations; police have not accepted them.

Source: ANI

"My personal assistant has been arrested in a fabricated case. We are approaching the High Court, and if necessary, we will also move the Supreme Court," Banerjee said on Thursday. He demanded that the state's Home Minister be removed immediately for what he called sheer incompetence, and sought criminal proceedings against the Superintendent of Police of the Diamond Harbour Police district for allegedly planting false evidence.

Source: ANI

Banerjee said the Sarisha premises had been vandalised about six months ago by BJP-backed goons and had since been a scene of crime under police investigation. The Trinamool side says the rented office was ransacked on May 21, days after the BJP won the state assembly polls, that a complaint was lodged with Diamond Harbour police station on May 23, and that the premises were later handed back to the landlord.

Source: Hindustan Times

One of the party's lawyers, Arka Nag, alleged that Roy was interrogated till 3 am on Wednesday, was taken to a building which he refused to enter, and was later brought back to find police counting money. "Planting any sort of evidence is a crime. We urge the police to stay within the ambit of the law," Nag said. These claims are allegations made by the party and its lawyer and have not been established.

Source: Hindustan Times

Police have confirmed that the premises belonged to the Trinamool Congress but have not clarified who was responsible for running the office. The source of the Rs 1,02,79,000 remains unestablished, and the investigation into the cash recovery and the soil-theft case is continuing.