Apex court lifts stay on ex-top cop’s arrest in Saradha probe
The Supreme Court yesterday vacated the interim protection granted to former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar from arrest by the CBI in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam case.
The investigating agency has accused Kumar of tampering with the evidence in the chit fund scam to shield powerful politicians. The court has expressed concern over the manner in which the chit fund scam case has panned out, while vacating its February 5 order granting interim protection from arrest to Kumar.
A bench comprising chief justice Ranjan Gogoi, justice Deepak Gupta and justice Sanjiv Khanna said: “We would withdraw the protection given to Rajeev Kumar, former commissioner of police, Kolkata, vide our order dated February 5, 2019 restraining the CBI from arresting him and thereby, leave it open to the CBI to act in accordance with the law.”
The court, however, granted Kumar seven days to take appropriate legal remedies.
“At the same time, we direct that the interim order dated February 5, 2019, would continue for a period of seven days from the date of pronouncement of this order to enable Kumar to approach competent court for relief, if so advised,” said the court.
The court observed that in the contempt proceedings it cannot determine whether or not Kumar should be arrested by the CBI for custodial interrogation.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has accused Kumar of destruction of evidence in the scam, but the court noted there was no charges registered against Kumar.
The court noted that it attempted to resolve the controversy by ensuring interrogation of Kumar by the CBI, in view of
the allegations levelled by the investigation agency, yet barred the CBI from arresting him. “This, however, has not worked out,” it said.
The court observed that Kumar had fully co-operated with the CBI, a fact which can be verified from the video recording of the 40 hours of interrogation, on different dates in Shillong.
The court did not delve into the merits of the case, rather limited or confined itself “to the application filed by the CBI for modification of the February 5 order, by which court restrained them from arresting Kumar.”
The West Bengal government told the court that laptop and mobile phones were examined by the Serious Fraud Investigation Unit, enforcement directorate and other agencies, which did not find them to be relevant and incriminating, and therefore these were returned.
“Besides, the data downloaded from mobile and laptop was not compromised and is available with the agencies,” the government told the court, although the CBI alleges that Kumar has played a key role in the destruction of the electronic evidence.
Earlier, during the arguments, senior counsel Indira Jaising, appearing for Kumar, argued that the CBI was being vindictive and had cooked up a false case against the police officer.
To support her argument, she referred to Kumar’s unblemished career and said he was a decorated officer and never had any doubts cast on his integrity. He was awarded the President’s Medal in 2015, after due diligence and scrutiny by the home ministry to select a candidate who had not been implicated in a case or departmental inquiry, she added.
Jaising said till date, the CBI had been unable to establish Kumar’s criminal intent in suppressing evidence in the investigation. “And yet they are seeking his custodial interrogation. There is a media trial going on,” she said.