NEW DELHI: Supreme Court Monday lashed out at CBI and ED for getting active in the probe against ‘Leaps and Bounds’ — a company allegedly linked to former West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee and tainted in the SSC recruitment scam — for getting huge sums from the previous TMC govt, and questioned the state police’s sudden alacrity to probe it for the same illegalities.While seeking custodial interrogation of Sumit Roy, PA to TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, in the illegal sale of govt land as private property, solicitor general Tushar Mehta mentioned Roy’s involvement in the transfer of Rs 30 crore from a party account to Leaps and Bounds.A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said, “The less said about Leaps and Bounds investigation, the better it is.” It noted Calcutta HC judges’ frustration over the dragging of feet by CBI and ED in investigating the firm.Mehta justified the probe, asking whether the state police should not investigate the land scam just because one agency erred. He said custodial interrogation was required as Roy was feigning lack of knowledge about the transfer of lakhs of rupees in cash.
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Roy’s counsel Gopal Sankaranarayanan said he had mistakenly submitted during the last hearing that accused had the right to silence. He said Roy had answered questions put to him during 11 days of interrogation.Bench asked Bengal police to submit by Sept 7 details of the interrogation relating to financial transactions. It said, “When we see a case like this, the court’s job is to enable a fair investigation.” It said it wanted to examine agencies’ “eagerness” to arrest.
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