Days after the BJP registered a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha polls, the CBI has begun tightening its noose around former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar. Kumar is accused of destroying the evidence in the chit fund scam during his time as the head of the probe team.
The federal probe agency on Sunday issued a lookout notice against him alerting airports and ports to ensure that Kumar is not allowed to leave the state. The CBI has also directed Kumar to appear before the agency on Monday morning at its regional headquarters in Salt Lake City in Kolkata.
Meanwhile, news agency ANI reported that a CBI team also visited Kumar’s residence in Kolkata on Sunday evening. The team had earlier gone to the residence of Kolkata Police Commissioner, looking for Rajeev Kumar.
Saradha chit fund scam: CBI team reaches at the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Park Street, Kolkata. The team had earlier gone to the residence of Kolkata Police Commissioner, looking for Rajeev Kumar. pic.twitter.com/TaWKc2OSSv
— ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2019
Kumar had sought reprieve from arrest from the Supreme Court but that expired this month after the top court refused to entertain his fresh plea on Friday for the extension on relief from the arrest in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.
“As the Supreme Court’s seven-day period ended on Friday and no court has given anticipatory bail to Kumar yet, CBI is free to proceed for custodial interrogation of Kumar. A formal summon to be issued to Rajeev Kumar shortly asking him to join the probe,” NDTV quoted an unnamed CBI official as saying.
The CBI’s attempt to arrest Kumar in February this year had led to an unprecedented constitutional crisis after the Kolkata Police arrested several members of the CBI team. The Centre had to deploy paramilitary forces to guard the regional office of the probe agency. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had termed Kumar as her best cop as she rushed to his house in his support.
The Kolkata Police had later carried out unprecedented raids at two different places of former CBI Director including one company allegedly owned by the wife of M Nageshwar Rao, the former interim Director of the CBI. The company, allegedly owned by Rao’s wife, in question is Angela Mercantile Pvt Ltd at Salt Lake.
Kumar had later faced intense grilling by the CBI in Shillong.