Published 13:59 IST, September 16th 2019
Saradha case: CBI inquires about Rajeev Kumar at Bengal Secretariat
CBI officials on Monday served letters at WB secretariat & sought to know the whereabouts of Rajeev Kumar & grounds on which he had gone on a month holiday
In the recent development in the case of CBI versus Kolkata's former top cop Rajeev Kumar, CBI officials on Monday went to the state secretariat and delivered letters for the chief secretary and home secretary. The letters were handed in connection with Rajeev Kumar not appearing before the agency for the ongoing probe into the Saradha scam. Two officers of the CBI reached the state secretariat around 10.40 am and delivered the letters one for Chief Secretary Malay De and another for Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay. The CBI, in the letters, sought to know the whereabouts of the police officer and the grounds on which he had gone on a month-long leave, a senior official at the state secretariat told PTI. The agency also sought to know when Kumar would be joining duty, the official said. The orders of the Calcutta High Court withdrawing protection against arrest to Kumar were also attached with the letters.
The CBI had served a fresh notice to Kumar on Friday asking him to appear before it on the following day. Kumar, who is now the additional director general of police in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), failed to appear before the CBI sleuths after that. Secretariat sources said that the CBI, in the letters, has directed Kumar to appear before its officers by 2 pm on Monday. CBI officials had gone to the secretariat on Sunday to serve the letters. The officials, who were told to come on a working day since Sunday was a holiday, had submitted two similar letters for state DGP Virendra. Kumar who reports directly to the DGP, had sent an e-mail to CBI sleuths seeking a months time to appear before them, mentioning that he is on leave for personal reasons till September 25.
What is Saradha Chit fund Scam?
Saradha Chit fund scam is related to a Ponzi scheme set up by Saradha Group led by businessman Sudipto Sen in the early 2000s. A few years later, a large sum of money was raised by the Saradha group. In 2009, the fraudulent ways by which the company raised money started exploding. With the SEBI's actions, the scheme collapsed by 2013 and the owner fled writing a letter that accused several politicians of making poor investments. Many Trinamool MPs are speculated to be a part of the scam.
Rajeev Kumar's involvement in Saradha case?
The Kolkata Police Commissioner was heading the SIT formed by WB Government to probe the Saradha Chit fund case. In February, a team of CBI officials arrived at Rajeev Kumar's residence to arrest him. Drama in the case began from that point as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reached the location and opposed the arrest of the Police Commissioner by the CBI. Claiming it an attack on 'Constitution', Mamata Banerjee sat on a night-long 'dharna'. Rajeev Kumar is currently West Bengal CID Additional Director General. The CBI started probe against Kumar after suggesting that the SIT team including Kumar has been evasive to CBI questioning regarding the missing pieces of evidence during one year of SIT probe.
Updated 14:15 IST, September 16th 2019