The former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar who was on the run fearing arrest resurfaced in the public on Thursday as he arrived at Alipore Court after Calcutta High Court granted him anticipatory bail.
According to the reports, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday had granted anticipatory bail to former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar. The former Kolkata police commissioner was on the run fearing an arrest as he is accused of destroying evidence in the Saradha Chit Fund scam when he was heading the probe.
The High Court had ruled out the need for custodial interrogation but had asked him to appear for questioning whenever the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) summons him which in turn have to give a 48-hour notice to Kumar.
A bench comprising of justices S Munshi and S Dasgupta stated that if Kumar is arrested in connection with the said case, he will have to be granted bail by an appropriate court on two sureties of Rs 50,000 each.
Rajeev Kumar’s anticipatory bail plea was filed by his wife on September 23, at the Calcutta High Court. It was his the third application for anticipatory bail by Kumar, who is currently posted as the additional director general of the Criminal Investigation Department of Bengal Police by Mamata Banerjee government.
The Supreme Court has already stated that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has in its status report made ‘very very serious’ revelations on the interrogation of former Kolkata Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in the Saradha chit fund scam. The CBI had claimed that the police under Rajeev Kumar had taken charge of all evidence and documents pertaining to the investigation and a lot of it had disappeared.
The Saradha scam broke out into the open in 2013 when a Ponzi scheme run by the Saradha Group, a consortium of over 200 private companies, collapsed after collecting hundreds and thousands of crores from over 15 lakh investors.
Senior politicians of the Trinamool Congress have been alleged to be involved in the scam ever since the CBI initiated its investigation. In December 2014, state transport and sports minister, Madan Mitra, was arrested by the central investigative agency in connection with the scam. Mitra was accused of criminal conspiracy, cheating and misappropriation.
