RAJEEV KUMAR FAILS TO APPEAR BEFORE CBI IN SARADHA PROBE
KOLKATA: Former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Saturday ignored summons from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to appear before it for questioning in connection with the Saradha Group financial scandal, prompting the agency to consult a lawyer on its next course of action.
When it became evident that he wouldn’t turn up, a CBI team including Pankaj Srivastava, the joint director based in Kolkata, met lawyer YJ Dastoor on Saturday afternoon.
“We will discuss with our lawyers and take steps. I cannot comment (on the matter),” Srivastava said after meeting Dastoor.
He also refused to comment on speculation that Kumar had sent the agency an e-mail seeking a month’s time to appear before the CBI for questioning.
CBI officers indicated that even if he had sought more time, it was unlikely that he would be granted his wish.
KOLKATA: Former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Saturday ignored summons from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to appear before it for questioning in connection with the Saradha Group financial scandal, prompting the agency to consult a lawyer on its next course of action.
When it became evident that he wouldn’t turn up, a CBI team including Pankaj Srivastava, the joint director based in Kolkata, met lawyer Y J Dastoor on Saturday afternoon.
“We will discuss with our lawyers and take steps. I cannot comment (on the matter),” Srivastava said after meeting Dastoor. He also refused to comment on speculation that Kumar had sent the agency an e-mail seeking a month’s time to appear before the CBI for questioning.
CBI officers indicated that even if he had sought more time, it was unlikely that he would be granted his wish.
The agency has already accused Kumar of using delaying tactics to avoid interrogation.
Kumar, a 1989 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, is now additional director general in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). He was the head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted by West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee government, to investigate the scandal related to the 2013 collapse of Saradha Group, which allegedly ran Ponzi schemes that duped hundreds of thousands of investors.
Kumar has been accused of concealing and tampering with evidence to shield influential beneficiaries of the Saradha ponzi scheme. The scam is believed to have involved ₹2,460 crore, most of which was deposits made by lower middle-class and poor people from states such as Bengal, Assam, Odisha and Jharkhand.
CBI took over the case in 2014 with the apex court asking the agency to also probe the role of influential people and a possible larger design behind the scam.
Kumar made no public appearance and couldn’t be reached in the day, with his phone being switched off.
CID officers indicated that he was consulting lawyers for a possible appeal before a higher court. Several policemen, some in uniform and some in plain clothes, were seen outside the apartment on Park Street where Kumar lives. On Friday, Kumar’s advocate Milon Mukherjee had declined comment on the matter or his client’s possible moves.