The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday visited Nabanna, West Bengal secretariat, to hand over letters addressed to the director-general of police (DGP), chief secretary and home secretary, to know about whereabouts of Kolkata’s former top cop and the Saradha scam accused, Rajeev Kumar. But they were turned away and asked to come on a ‘working day’.
Sources said that the CBI officers were carrying four letters, of which two meant for the DGP were received by his office. They, however, were asked to come on Monday for the letters addressed to the chief secretary and home secretary as their offices were closed on Sunday.
“We cannot disclose the contents of the letters. The letters for the chief secretary and home secretary were not accepted. They (Nabanna officials) have asked us to come again on Monday,” said a CBI officer, while leaving the state secretariat.
The CBI had gone looking for the Kolkata police’s ex-chief and Mamata Banerjee’s close aide after he failed to turn up for questioning before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam case.
The CBI officers served another notice to Kumar to appear before them on Saturday for questioning after the HC had on Friday withdrawn Kumar’s protection from custodial interrogation.
In a major jolt to the IPS officer, the High Court withdrew the interim protection giving the CBI an immediate chance to ask him to appear before the agency in connection with the ponzi scam probe. Rajeev Kumar is accused of shielding and destroying evidence in the chit fund scam which saw thousands lose their hard-earned money with some pushed to the extreme level to end their lives.
This attempt by the WB government to protect Rajeev Kumar is not new. Mamata Banerjee has earlier too shown her endearment for the ex-cop by not only reinstating him as the additional director general of the state Criminal Investigation Department but also by sitting on a 72 dharna in his defence when a CBI team reached Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s residence in connection with Saradha scam on February 3, 2019.
Kumar, a 1989-batch IPS officer, was part of a Special Investigation Team set up by the state government to investigate the Saradha scam, before the Supreme Court handed over the case to the CBI in 2014, along with other chit fund cases. Rajeev Kumar is accused of shielding some of the accused and destroying evidence in West Bengal’s Saradha Chit Fund scam case.
