Now Reading: Over Rs 1.02 crore seized from TMC office in Diamond Harbour
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Over Rs 1.02 crore seized from TMC office in Diamond Harbour
The Story in Brief
Police in West Bengal's Diamond Harbour seized over Rs 1.02 crore in cash on Tuesday and Wednesday, 3 and 4 November 2026, from a Trinamool Congress party office in Sarisha, following interrogation of Sumit Roy, an aide of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee. Additional Superintendent of Police Abhishek Majumdar confirmed the seizure but said investigators were yet to establish who was running the office.
Roy is in police custody in connection with a land grab case and an alleged illegal soil excavation case. Times Now reported that the raid took place late Tuesday night, while Hindustan Times and Rediff reported it on Wednesday. Roy was arrested on 10 September after the Supreme Court denied him bail.
The Mamata Banerjee faction of the TMC alleged the money was planted to malign the party. Its lawyer Arka Nag claimed Roy was threatened with an encounter if he did not cooperate, and that the office had been vandalised on 21 May 2026 after the BJP won state polls, and handed back to the landlord. The party said it would move court over the alleged threat to Roy.
Update, 4 November 2026: Times Now reports that the raid took place late Tuesday (3 November) night, 3 November, and that police recovered Rs 1,02,79,000. The outlet adds that Roy was taken into police custody in a separate illegal soil excavation case registered at Kalitala Ashuti Police Station, and that investigators questioned him after obtaining custody on 31 October.
Indian Opinion Analysis
All three outlets report the same core facts, over Rs 1.02 crore seized from a TMC office in Sarisha after interrogation of Sumit Roy, but vary in emphasis. Rediff leads with rebel MLA Shamim Ahmed’s name, while Hindustan Times and Times Now focus on the party office itself. Hindustan Times gives the most space to the TMC’s counter-allegations of planted money and an encounter threat to Roy, which Rediff omits entirely and Times Now summarises briefly. The common police line is that the cash was seized and ownership is under investigation. The key open question, stated by police to all three outlets, is who was running the office and what role Roy played.
Next steps: The TMC has said it will move court over the alleged threat to Roy, and police are investigating the source and intended use of the cash.
Coverage: 3 sources, 3 neutral
Sources (3): rediff.com (neutral report), hindustantimes.com (neutral report), timesnownews.com (neutral report)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Methodology and corrections.
Update, 5 November 2026: further reports on this story from deccanherald.com, indianexpress.com.
