Ex-Kolkata top cop Rajeev Kumar yet to appear before CBI

Kolkata: With over four hours elapsing after the CBI-ordained scheduled time for his appearance in connection with the Ponzi scam probe, senior IPS officer Rajeev Kumar was yet to appear before the agency on Saturday with police sources claiming he was at his Park Street residence here consulting lawyers.

Soon after the Calcutta High Court on Friday withdrew interim protection from arrest given to the former Kolkata Police Commissioner in the Saradha chit fund scam case, Cental Bureau of Investigation officials reached his official residence here and served him summons to appear before the agency at 10 AM on Saturday.

The CBI officers, led by a joint director, were waiting for Kumar at the CGO complex with a set of questions to grill him as part of the probe.

Kumar has so far not sent any emissary also to the CGO complex in response to the CBI’s Friday summons.

Meanwhile, West Bengal BJP unit president Dilip Ghosh drew parallel between Kumar and Congress leader P. Chidamabaram, who has been arrested in the INX media case after remaining unreachable for a day.

“Before his arrest, even P. Chidamabaram had been incommunicado. Those who have betrayed the nation, broken people’s trust, are now mortally afraid of CBI. But if the CBI wishes to arrest somebody, then he cannot remain underground for long. The fate of Chidambaram, a heavyweight politician, is a proof of that,” said Ghosh.

However, he hoped that Kumar, being a senior IPS officer, would cooperate with the CBI.

“I think Kumar is a senior IPS officer, he is well versed with the law, and so he should cooperate with the CBI so that the large number of people, who have suffered because of the scam, get justice”.

In a jolt to the IPS officer, the High Court on Friday withdrew the interim protection to Kumar giving the CBI an immediate chance to ask him to appear before the agency in connection with the ponzi scam probe that saw thousands of people lose their hard earned money with some pushed to the extreme point to end their lives.

The court had given the interim protection on May 30 and then extended it multiple times.

A source said Kumar, presently posted as Additional Director General of the state Criminal Investigation Department, was on leave.

The investigating agency had in May sent a notice to Kumar asking him to appear before it and later issued a lookout notice against him alerting all airports and immigration authorities against him leaving the country.

Kumar had moved the court on May 22 seeking quashing of the CBI notice asking him to appear before the agency.

He appeared before the CBI on June 7 and was grilled for several hours.

Kumar, who headed the special investigation team (SIT) in 2013 as the Commissioner of Bidhannagar police that probed the Saradha scam, is accused of tampering with evidence in this case.

The Supreme Court in May, 2014, handed over the case to the CBI.

The CBI is seeking Kumar’s custodial interrogation arguing certain documents seized by the SIT during the initial investigation into the scam was not handed over to it.

An unprecedented chain of events had unfolded on February 3 when a CBI team reached Kumar’s residence to question him. The team was detained and was taken to a police station before being released.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also visited the officer’s residence and later held a 45-hour sit-in at the city hub on the issue. But in February itself, as per the Supreme Court orders, Kumar was interrogated by the CBI in Shillong.

Published on: Sep 14, 2019 at 15:25 IST

IANS