New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) today directed Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to appear before the CBI, in investigations related to the Saradha Chit Fund Scam.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, however, said that no coercive step should be taken against Rajeev Kumar. The SC has also issued a contempt notice to the Chief Secretary of West Bengal Government, the DGP and the Police Commissioner for allegedly detaining the CBI probe team. Rajeev Kumar will now appear before the CBI in Shillong. The case will be heard on Feb. 20.
“The CJI Bench ordered that Rajeev Kumar should make himself available and fully co-operate. At the same time, the Court stated that no coercive steps should be taken. It has also been made clear by the Court that the personal appearance after filing of replies of the concerned officers may be required on Feb. 20 and that will be communicated by the Secretary General of the SC on Feb.19,” said senior Lawyer and BJP leader Nalin Kohli.
This comes amidst West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s ‘Save the Constitution’ dharna, which started on Sunday after the CBI attempted to arrest Rajeev Kumar, which was foiled by WB Police.
The CBI had on Monday filed an affidavit in the SC alleging that there are several incriminating materials or correspondence in Saradha Chit Fund case that were collected during the investigation by the CBI against senior Police officials as well as senior politicians.
The CBI affidavit states that the investigation was being done by SIT and crucial evidence such as laptops, mobile phones among others were handed over to the main accused by the Investigating Officer working under direct supervision of Rajeev Kumar.
Rajeev Kumar has reportedly not responded to summons from the CBI in connection with their probes into the Rose Valley and Saradha ponzi scams.
Kumar led the SIT investigation into the scams until 2014 when the agency took over following directions from the Supreme Court. The CBI was slated to question Kumar about documents that reportedly went missing.
This post was published on February 5, 2019 6:45 pm