Calcutta HC Rejects Plea By Abhishek Banerjee's Aide For Protection From Arrest

(MENAFN- IANS) Kolkata, Nov 12 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Thursday rejected a petition filed by Sumit Roy, executive assistant to Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, seeking protection from arrest in any fresh case apart from the two corruption-related cases in which he is already booked.

Roy is currently facing two cases. He was arrested earlier this year in connection with an alleged illegal land-grabbing case in Salboni in West Bengal. After spending the initial days in police custody, he was sent to judicial custody.

Last month, the Diamond Harbour Police District in South 24 Parganas showed him as arrested in another case involving alleged multi-crore soil theft in Diamond Harbour. He was subsequently taken into police custody again.

Following this, Roy moved the Calcutta High Court, seeking an order restraining the police from arresting him in any fresh case other than the two existing cases.

The petition came up for hearing before the single-judge vacation bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya on Thursday. After hearing the submissions, the judge rejected Roy's plea, observing that the issues raised in the application required detailed consideration and that interim protection from arrest could not be granted at this stage.

Earlier this week, the same vacation bench had declined an urgent hearing on a separate petition filed by Roy's wife, Sushmita Roy, alleging that her husband was being tortured in police custody.

In her petition, she sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the two cases against her husband, which are currently being investigated by the West Bengal Police. Alternatively, she requested judicial intervention through the constitution of a committee headed by a retired Calcutta High Court judge to investigate the allegations.

However, Justice Bhattacharya declined to take up the matter during the ongoing court vacation and directed that it be placed before a regular bench after the High Court resumes normal functioning on November 16.

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