SC notice to top IPS officer Rajeev Kumar

The Supreme Court sought response from West Bengal cadre IPS officer Rajeev Kumar on CBI's appeal challenging the anticipatory bail granted to him in the Saradha chit fund scam case. A bench headed by Chief justice S A Bobde told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the agency has to convince the top court why custody of the former Kolkata Police Commissioner was needed in the case. Mehta told the bench that Kumar was earlier absconding for quite some time and he has suppressed relevant materials which were collected by him during the probe. The CBI had filed an appeal in the apex court against the order of the Calcutta High Court which had granted him the relief saying it was not an appropriate case for custodial interrogation. The Saradha group of companies allegedly duped millions of people to the tune of £250 million, promising higher rates of return on their investments. Kumar was part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the state government for probing the scam before the Supreme Court handed over the case to the CBI in 2014. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had came out in Kumar's defence and resorted to a sit-in in protest against the Centre's move.