Police in West Bengal seized over Rs 1.02 crore in cash from a Trinamool Congress (TMC) office in Sarisha, located within the South 24 Parganas district, late Tuesday night. The cash recovery followed clues obtained during the interrogation of Sumit Roy, personal assistant to TMC MP and national secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
According to Diamond Harbour Police District Superintendent Abhishek Majumder, officers seized exactly Rs 1,02,79,000 from the party office situated in the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency. Roy, a close aide to Banerjee, had been taken into custody over allegations involving soil theft in the Asuti police station area of South 24 Parganas, as well as the alleged illegal grabbing of government land in Salboni, located in Paschim Medinipur district.
“Police recovered the money after interrogating Sumit Roy, personal assistant (PA) to Abhishek Banerjee,” SP Abhishek Majumder stated on Wednesday.
Majumder noted that officers conducted the search operation after interrogating Roy for long hours, leading directly to the cash discovery at the Sarisha party office. The SP added that authorities are working to determine who specifically managed and operated the party premises.
“It was a Trinamool Congress party office, but we will have to find out exactly who used to run the office,” Majumder said.
Police are continuing their probe to establish the origin of the seized money. Sources indicated that a complaint had earlier been filed at the Asuti police station regarding the high-priced sale of soil extracted from both private and government land in Kalitala, naming Roy and several others. Unnamed sources also claimed that a TMC MLA from South 24 Parganas, who shared close political links with Roy, managed the Sarisha office premises.
