After SC order, CBI questions Kolkata top cop in Shillong
SARADHA CASE PROBE Kumar quizzed at a CBI office by three sleuths from New Delhi
SHILLONG: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) began questioning the Kolkata Police chief on Saturday at highly secured agency’s office here in connection with chit fund scam cases, officials said.
Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, his counsel Biswajit Deb and senior IPS officers Javed Shamim and Murlidhar Sharma arrived at the probe agency’s office at 11 am, they said. Kumar’s counsel and the two IPS officers were asked to leave the CBI office within 30 minutes, they said.
Kumar is being interrogated at the highly secured CBI office at Oakland area in the Meghalaya capital where three senior CBI sleuths from Delhi reached on Friday.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar to cooperate with the CBI in the Saradha chit fund case. The court though made it clear that no coercive steps, including arrest, can be taken against him.
“We direct the chief secretary of the state and the DGP to file their replies on or before Febru- ary 18,” a bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said on Tuesday.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is sitting on a dharna against CBI’S attempts to question Rajeev Kumar, said the court verdict is a “moral victory”. “Rajeev Kumar never said I will not be available. They (CBI) came to arrest. The court said no arrest,” she said. The Mamata Banerjee government has been involved in showdown with the Centre after the CBI came to the Kolkata police chief’s doors on Sunday night to question him.
The CBI had alleged in the Supreme Court that Kumar, who was leading the SIT probe into Saradha chit fund scam, tampered with the electronic evidence and handed over documents to the agency, some of which were “doctored”. The apex court directed him to appear before the investigating agency at a neutral place in Shillong “to avoid all unnecessary controversy”.
CBI offi cials had gone t o Kumar’s residence in Kolkata to question him on January 3 but their attempt was thwarted by the police, following which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee staged a three-day dharna.