Lookout notice issued against TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee's aide in land fraud case

Kolkata, Jun 16 (PTI) The West Bengal CID on Tuesday issued a lookout notice against Sumit Roy, a close aide of Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, in connection with an alleged land fraud case, sources in the investigating agency said on Tuesday.

The development comes a day after police issued a warrant against Roy, whose whereabouts have remained unknown despite multiple search operations conducted over the past few days.

According to CID sources, the lookout notice was issued after investigators failed to locate Roy during searches at several places linked to him.

However, the state investigative agency has not made any official announcement on the matter.

On Monday, the court issued an arrest warrant against Roy

in connection with the case.

Coincidentally, Roy approached the Calcutta High Court the same day seeking anticipatory bail. His counsel mentioned the matter before the bench of Justice Joy Sengupta, and the plea is likely to come up for hearing later this week.

A CID official said investigators have been making sustained efforts to trace Roy as part of the probe.

“Searches have been conducted at locations where we had reason to believe he could be present. We are continuing our efforts to locate him and proceed with the investigation,” the official said.

Investigators had conducted a search at Banerjee’s residence in Kalighat early on Saturday after obtaining what they described as the last available mobile phone tower location linked to Roy.

“The last tower location of the mobile phone being tracked was found near that address. Acting on that lead, a search was carried out, but he was not found there,” the CID official said.

Sources said Roy’s name surfaced during the questioning of former Medinipur MLA Sujay Hazra, who was arrested earlier in the alleged land fraud case.

Investigators are examining the nature of Roy’s alleged role in the matter and are continuing efforts to secure his presence for questioning, officials said. PTI SCH NN