No anticipatory bail for Rajeev Kumar

NEW DELHI: Former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s anticipatory bail plea in connection with the Saradha chit fund case was on Saturday night rejected by the Alipore Sessions court in Kolkata, with trouble mounting for the IPS officer.

However, Kumar’s lawyer maintained that the anticipatory bail should be provided on the grounds that his client had already told the CBI that he was willing to join the probe but after September 25.

According to Halder, Kumar had sent a communication to the Central Bureau of Investigation on August 28, letting the agency know that he would not be available from September 1 to September 25.

Halder said that the probe agency continued to issue summons to Kumar after the Calcutta High Court lifted his arrest shield, despite being aware of the earlier communique from his client. Even after the summons issued last Friday, Kumar had sent a response reiterating that he will join the probe after September 25.

Moreover, while the CBI’S most recent summons to Kumar was issued under section 160 of the CRPC, which means they wanted him to join the investigation as a witness, the agency has now approached three courts in West Bengal, seeking a non-bailable warrant for Kumar’s arrest, most likely in a bid to strengthen their case.

In fact, the Calcutta High Court order that lifted Kumar’s protection from arrest had also observed that he was not yet an accused in the case and merely a witness. Even though the CBI’S request for an NBW was denied on Thursday, the court had said the agency does not need a warrant to arrest Kumar and should approach the judiciary if it was stopped from performing its duties. Since then, the special team constituted to locate Kumar has been going around Kolkata searching for him at places officials say he is suspected to visit. Officials from the probe agency have also been regularly visiting his official residence at 34, Park Street, even questioning his wife, in a desperate bid to trace him.

Kumar has not been seen since last Friday, when his arrest shield was lifted.

Even after the summons issued last Friday, Kumar had sent a response reiterating that he will join the probe after September 25