Kolkata, June 13 (IANS) Both the Trinamool Congress as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lashed out at Sumit Roy, the absconding executive assistant of Trinamool MP and party’s General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, accusing him of corruption and other malpractices. The reactions come after the West Bengal Police on Saturday searched multiple locations linked to Roy, including his Kolkata residence, his house in Hooghly district and his in‑laws’ home, but he remained untraceable.

Speaking to reporters, Trinamool MLA Kunal Ghosh claimed that Sumit Roy had become a “separate power centre”.

“Parallelly, he had his own group and his own circle. He was not a secretary but was running a ‘fan club’ around the secretary. The police should have picked up all the fan club people from the house,” he said.

However, Ghosh added: “The police going to Abhishek Banerjee’s house at 3 a.m. to find Sumit Roy, appears to be political vendetta and should not happen.”

Union Minister of State and BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar alleged: “Everyone connected with politics and administration knows that Sumit was the one who used to run everything. He used to decide which police officer or Superintendent of Police would be transferred, where they would be posted, and who had to pay money for what purpose.”

“I don’t know what he (Sumit Roy) has been involved in Shalboni. He must have done something and taken money from someone; that is why an FIR has been registered. And once an FIR is registered, the police will obviously come into action,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, suspended Trinamool leader Riju Dutta said: “Today, I came to know that an FIR has been registered at Bishnupur Police Station regarding an alleged Rs 250 crore corruption case linked to relief work during Cyclone Amphan, and that FIR has also been filed against Abhishek Banerjee.”

“If Abhishek Banerjee is innocent, it will be proved in court otherwise the law will take his own course,” he added.

BJP leader Abhijit Das called Abhishek Banerjee as the “leader of terrorists”.

“After he became an MP, there has never been a panchayat election in the last 10 years. In 2018, there was a panchayat election, but there were so many atrocities that no Opposition candidate could submit their nomination. The panchayat leaders are illegally holding on to their posts,” he alleged.

He also said: “During the Amphan cyclone in 2020, the Centre had released a lot of funds which were misused due to Abhishek Banerjee.”

–IANS

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