Kolkata: Former Kolkata Police Commissioner, Rajeev Kumar, failed to turn up at the CBI office here Monday to face interrogation in connection with the Saradha scam.
The CBI had directed Rajeev Kumar to appear before its officials by 2.00pm Monday, but the former Kolkata top cop did not turn up at CGO complex office of the premier investigating agency in the Salt Lake area here.
This is the second occasion since Saturday last that Rajeev Kumar defied the CBI summons to present himself before its investigating team in the scam.
The CBI officials had gone Saturday to the state secretariat ‘Nabanna’ and handed over a letter for the Director General of Police of West Bengal, Veerendra, directing Kumar to appear before the CBI officials. Kumar is currently the Additional Director General of Police in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
CBI officials went to the state secretariat Monday morning again and delivered letters for Chief Secretary Malay De and Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, in connection with Kumar not appearing before the agency Saturday.
The probe agency, in the letters, sought to know the whereabouts of the police officer and the grounds on which he had gone on a month-long leave, a senior official at the state secretariat told this agency. The agency also sought to know when Kumar would be joining duty, the official said. The orders of the Calcutta High Court withdrawing protection against arrest to Kumar were also attached with the letters.
The Calcutta High Court had vacated Friday its interim order granting the former Police Commissioner protection from arrest in the Saradha chit fund scam case.
Rajeev Kumar was part of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the state government to investigate the scam before the Supreme Court handed over the case to the CBI in 2014, along with other chit fund cases.
CBI officials said that Kumar had allegedly suppressed evidences crucial for filing the final chargesheet in the Saradha scam case. The Saradha group of companies had allegedly duped lakhs of people to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore, promising higher rates of returns on their investments.
PTI