Kolkata: Diamond Harbour police on Wednesday displayed Rs 1,02,79,000 in cash seized from a Trinamool Congress office in Sarisha earlier in the day, after interrogating Sumit Roy, an aide to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, setting off a fresh political row.Additional SP Abhishek Majumdar confirmed the seizure at the news conference. Police said the office is associated with Mograhat West MLA Shamim Ahmed, who now owes allegiance to the rebel TMC bloc under Ritabrata Banerjee.Investigators are probing the source of the cash, why it was allegedly kept there and whether others were involved.Roy, who is in police custody over alleged financial irregularities and other offences, is being questioned further, Majumdar said.Mamata TMC counsel Arka Nag alleged the recovery was a conspiracy to implicate Roy and create a controversy around Abhishek, the Diamond Harbour MP, in whose constituency the office falls.He claimed police took Roy to the premises in the early hours, threatened him with a firearm, covered his head with a black cloth and forced him into a room where cash was being counted.He also alleged Roy was threatened with an encounter during interrogation. Nag said the allegations were being examined and Roy would approach the appropriate court.Nag also disputed the police description of the premises as an active party office. Citing a complaint by party functionary Maidul Islam, he claimed the building was handed back to its landlord on May 21 and vandalised that night, with a written complaint submitted to Diamond Harbour police the next day.He alleged police ignored that complaint and were now trying to link the premises to the party, and warned that officers found to have planted evidence would face legal action.“Allegations can be made, narratives can be manufactured, and political controversies can be created, but ultimately the documentary evidence will have to be examined,” Nag said.BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said: “Let police do its duty and the truth will unfold.”
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