Kolkata: A court in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district on Monday issued an arrest warrant against Sumit Roy, a close aide of Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, in connection with an alleged land scam case.
The warrant was issued after investigators informed the court that Roy could not be traced despite repeated attempts by police teams to locate him.
Officials said multiple teams have been searching for Roy over the past several days. As he remained untraceable and was allegedly not cooperating with the investigation, police approached the court seeking an arrest warrant, which was subsequently granted.
Meanwhile, Roy moved the Calcutta High Court on Monday seeking anticipatory bail. His counsel mentioned the matter before Justice Joy Sengupta, and the plea is expected to be heard later this week.
Police are investigating a case registered at Salboni police station, where Roy’s name reportedly surfaced during the questioning of former Medinipur MLA Sujoy Hazra, who was arrested earlier in the same land scam investigation.
As part of efforts to locate Roy, a team from Salboni police station, accompanied by central security personnel, conducted a search operation at Abhishek Banerjee’s residence in Kolkata’s Kalighat area on Saturday. Investigators had reportedly tracked Roy’s last known mobile phone location to the vicinity and searched the premises after waiting for several hours.
Despite searches at multiple locations based on technical surveillance inputs, police said Roy could not be found.
Investigators also carried out a search at Roy’s in-laws’ residence in Serampore, Hooghly district, on the same day, but failed to locate him there as well.
The case has added a fresh political dimension to the ongoing land scam probe, with investigators continuing efforts to trace Roy and further examine his alleged links to the matter.
