BREAKING: Supreme Court Refuses Sumit Roy's Anticipatory Bail Plea

The Supreme Court today dismissed the anticipatory bail plea filed by Sumit Roy, personal assistant to Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, who is accused in the Salboni land-grabbing case.

A CJI Surya Kant led bench orally pronounced its decision in court today after hearing submissions made by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Roy.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Enforcement Directorate, the agency having continuously sought custodial interrogation of Roy.

"No deposit slips or other banking records bearing my signature or handwriting, or any other material identifying me as the person who made the alleged deposits, were shown... The petitioner has never been confronted with any complainant or victim who alleges that payments were made to us..," Sankaranarayanan told the bench.

"They have questioned me for 88 hours...what is custodial interrogation going to do now...I have repeatedly cooperated..," court was further told. Sankaranarayanan added that it was only a fishing and roving inquiry about the political party.

"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," Justice Bagchi told Sankaranarayanan.

Recently, the West Bengal government had placed before the Supreme Court the interrogation details concerning Roy.

Supreme Court had called for the interrogation details after Roy alleged that investigators barely questioned him about the Salboni land-grabbing case. Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Roy, had submitted that the entire interrogation was videographed and that his client had cooperated fully, answering all questions put to him. “Instead of asking me about this offence, they asked me entirely about my family. Then they asked me about the political party, how it recruits people, where it gets its funding from,” he argued.

Referring to interrogation material, SG Mehta had told court that Roy had been asked about cash deposits into his personal bank account and that the agency possessed documentary evidence bearing his signature. Justice Bagchi had then asked SG Mehta to provide the transcripts of the interrogation and responses.

The Supreme Court heard the anticipatory bail plea of Sumit Roy, with the Enforcement Directorate seeking his custodial interrogation in connection with an ongoing investigation. SG Mehta, appearing for the investigating agency, told a Bench that he had examined the case record and that the investigation had revealed that the matter was “only a tip of the iceberg”.

On August 6, the Court had stayed the arrest of Sumit Roy, while directing him to fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation. The Bench had passed the interim order while hearing Roy's challenge to the Calcutta High Court's refusal to grant him anticipatory bail.

The matter arises out of a Salboni Police case registered under provisions relating to cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, use of forged documents and criminal conspiracy over an alleged government land fraud.

What happened before the High Court

On August 3, the Calcutta High Court had rejected Roy's anticipatory bail plea. Justice Tirthankar Ghosh declined to grant pre-arrest protection after hearing the parties. Before the High Court, Roy had argued that he was not named in the FIR and that his alleged involvement surfaced only during the investigation.

His counsel maintained that he had no connection with the land transactions and contended that he had been implicated solely because he served as the Personal Assistant to TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee. It was further argued that the prosecution's case rested only on oral statements, without any banking transactions or electronic evidence linking Roy to the alleged offence, and that the prosecution was politically motivated.

The State, however, opposed the plea, submitting that the investigation had uncovered forged title deeds relating to government land. According to the prosecution, government land had been fraudulently transferred with the complicity of local political and influential persons, and the investigation had revealed material warranting custodial interrogation.

Case Title: Sumit Roy v. State of West Bengal

Bench: CJI Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana

Hearing Date: September 10, 2026