Kolkata: Former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar who is untraceable since last week was summoned again by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Sources said that the agency had asked him to appear before it. Earlier, Kumar was asked to present himself at the CBI office in Salt Lake in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam. The officers of the agency said he not only failed to turn up, his phone was also out of reach. They have also alerted officials at the Kolkata airport to keep a check on the passenger list of the flights.
The CBI has written to the home secretary, chief secretary and DGP of West Bengal seeking Kumar's location. Kumar has been on leave and through an e-mail requested CBI to grant him more time over personal issues. However, the Calcutta High Court withdrew the interim protection from arrest given to him in connection with the chit fund scam case. Reportedly, CBI is now planning to seek a non-bailable warrant against him on grounds of non-cooperation.
Soon after a single bench of Calcutta High Court removed his protective shield against arrest, a CBI team visited Kumar’s official residence, but did not find him. Removing the shield, Calcutta High Court said that the agency could summon him whenever it felt necessary for questioning. While there has been speculation that the CBI is likely to arrest him, officers indicated that his fate will depend on whether he cooperates with the agency or not.
Kumar, believed to be close to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, has been under scanner for allegedly tampering with evidence and giving protection to certain politicians in the Sarada scam and Rose Valley chit fund scams. When there were reports that the CBI may question Kumar, Mamata came to his support. Kumar was the chief of the SIT which had investigated the scam till 2014, when the CBI took over the probe. The £246 million Saradha scam is the politically most sensitive scam in Bengal in which a minister, a Rajya Sabha MP and a Trinamool Congress (TMC) vice-president were sent to jail. Another Rajya Sabha MP from Trinamool Congress was also questioned.
