Kolkata, Sep 15 — The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is investigating the multi-crore illegal land-grabbing case at Salboni in West Bengal's West Midnapore district, has secured crucial clues on how fake state government seal stamps were used for unauthorised conversion of government-vested land and subsequently sold at premium prices.
An insider from the state police said crucial clues on this count had been found by the investigating officers through the interrogation of key operators in this alleged scam, and through the recovery of fake state government seal stamps from one of the three arrested.
The three persons already arrested by the CID sleuths in this particular case are Sumit Roy, the personal assistant of the Trinamool Congress general secretary and the party’s Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee; former Trinamool Congress legislator from Medinipur Assembly constituency in West Midnapore district, Sujoy Hazra; and Amit Ghosh, a close confidant of both Roy and Hazra.
“The investigating officer visited the addresses of those whose names were in the land title deeds, and they found that no persons by those names existed at the mentioned addresses. A large number of stamp papers and rubber stamp seals of the state land and land revenue department were recovered from the residence of Sujoy Hazra. Later, these seals were found to be fake. Apart from that, several passbooks and cheque books were also recovered from Hazra’s house,” said a state police officer aware of the developments.
Apart from these, the state police insider added, the statements given by two personal security officers (PSOs) of Abhishek Banerjee are also very crucial for the investigating officers to make the case watertight.
The names of the two PSOs of the Diamond Harbour MP had also been mentioned as witnesses in the chargesheet filed by the CID. In the chargesheet, a total of 20 names have been named as witnesses.
“The list of witnesses includes people from panchayat heads to local Trinamool Congress leaders. Even the driver of Sujoy Hazra's car has been named as a witness,” the state police officer said.