In a significant development that deepens the legal troubles for Sumit Ray, former personal assistant to Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, the Kalitala Ashuti police station under the Diamond Harbour Police District has formally executed a “shown arrest” against him inside correctional custody. Ray, who is currently lodged in judicial custody in connection with a separate land-grabbing investigation, now faces an array of fresh criminal charges involving an employment racket, extortion, and extensive illegal encroachment on protected ecological water bodies.
The timing of the police action came on the very day a scheduled hearing concerning his earlier case was listed before the Calcutta High Court, dealing a severe blow to his legal team’s efforts to secure interim relief and bail.
Case 140/2026: The Joka ‘MLA Lake’ Fraud and Encroachment FIR
The fresh proceedings stem from a formal written complaint lodged by Abhijit Das (alias Bobby), leading to the registration of Case No. 140 at the Kalitala Ashuti police station on June 16, 2026.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), the alleged offences took place along the Sakharipota main road in the Joka-Raipur area, centering on a prominent regional water body locally known as the “MLA Lake.” The complaint alleges that Ray used political clout to defraud unemployed youth of substantial sums under false promises of securing government jobs, while simultaneously orchestrating the illegal filling and commercial exploitation of public wetlands and natural water reservoirs.
Investigating authorities have invoked stringent penal and environmental statutes in the case:
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS): Sections 329(3) (criminal trespass), 303(2) (theft), 318(4) (cheating), 316(5) (criminal breach of trust), 326(2) (mischief causing damage), 324(4) (mischief), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy).
- Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act: Section 21, pertaining to illicit extraction, transportation, and filling of earth and minerals.
- West Bengal Land Reforms (WBLR) Act: Section 4D, covering the unlawful conversion of agricultural and wetland classifications without mandatory state sanctions.
- West Bengal Inland Fisheries Act: Section 17A, which strictly prohibits the filling, alteration, or non-fishery conversion of natural and commercial water bodies.
- Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act: Section 3, addressing destruction of government and community assets.
- Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act: Sections 42 and 43, dealing with deliberate contamination and destruction of water-bearing ecological systems.
Police Move for Alipore Court Remand as Bail Hopes Recede
With Ray already in judicial detention following previous enforcement actions by state investigators, officers from the Kalitala Ashuti police station served an official warrant upon correctional authorities to formally execute the shown arrest on record.
Detectives tracking the case noted that interrogating Ray in this matter is vital to establishing the money trail, identifying other intermediaries in the job-for-cash network, and calculating the commercial gains derived from unauthorized earth-filling and land repurposing around the Joka water body.
Police sources confirmed that an application will be moved before the Alipore District and Sessions Court seeking his police remand. The Diamond Harbour Police District aims to subject him to custodial interrogation to unravel the institutional patronage that enabled the illicit reclamation syndicate.
