The Weekend Leader - CBI summons ex Kolkata Commissioner again for questioning

CBI summons ex Kolkata Commissioner again for questioning

Kolkata

16-September-2019

Two days after senior IPS officer and ex-Kolkata top cop Rajeev Kumar sent an email to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Saradha scam probe seeking more time, the investigative agency again summoned him to appear before it on Monday afternoon.

A senior official related to the probe in New Delhi told IANS, "We have summoned Kumar for questioning at 2 p.m. at our Salt Lake office in Kolkata today."

The official said that the agency mentioned about the summons to the former top cop in its letters to the Director General of Police (DGP), Chief Secretary and Home Secretary of West Bengal.

Out of four letters to the senior officials of the state, only two were received at the DGP office, while the rest marked for Chief Secretary and Home Secretary of the state were not served, owing to holiday on Sunday.

The official said that those letters submitted to the DGP asked for the whereabouts of Kumar and his reasons mentioned for the leave.

The official said that the CBI will again visit the state government officials on Monday to serve letters seeking information on Kumar.

The official said that for questioning of Kumar one company of CRPF will be deployed at the CBI office in Salt Lake to avoid any law and order problem.

The CBI has summoned Kumar for questioning on Saturday, a day after the Calcutta High Court withdrew interim protection from arrest given to the former Kolkata Police Commissioner in the Saradha chit fund scam case that saw thousands of people lose their hard earned money with some being pushed to the extreme point to end their lives.

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

However, Kumar sent an email to the agency seeking a months time to appear before the agency as he 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 alerting all airports and immigration authorities.

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 the evidence in this case.

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

The CBI is seeking Kumar's custodial interrogation arguing certain documents seized by the SIT during initial investigation were 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 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 on the issue. But in February itself, as per the Supreme Court order, Kumar was interrogated by the CBI in Shillong.IANS 



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