The CBI grilled Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in Shillong in Meghalaya today in connection with allegations of tampering evidence in the much-publicised Saradha chit fund scam. This was after the Supreme Court last week directed the federal probe agency to question Kumar at a neutral place in Shillong to avoid any political controversy.
The top court had made it abundantly clear that the CBI will not arrest Kumar, who arrived in Shillong with three senior officers of the Kolkata Police.
The controversy had turned ugly after the CBI officials, who arrived in Kolkata earlier this month to allegedly arrest Kumar, were detained by the city police. This had led to a showdown between the state government of West Bengal and the Centre. The Centre had later deployed paramilitary forces to guard the regional offices of the CBI in Salt Lake near Kolkata.
Kumar is accused by the CBI of having tampered with the call record of one of the key accused in the chit fund scam case. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had staged a sit-in protest against the Centre’s alleged attempt to undermine her government. She had ended her dharna three days later after the Supreme Court directed the CBI to not arrest Kumar.
State Fire Minister and Trinamool MLA Sujit Bose was quoted by Indian Express. Everyone knows the motive of CBI behind their over-alertness before elections. BJP is losing its ground everywhere, including in Hindi speaking states. Since they are unable to fight politically, they are getting personal. Our chief minister has always stood like a tigress against wrongdoings. It is so funny to hear that 40 CBI officials went to the Commissioner’s (Kumar’s) residence to hand over a notice… We are protesting and we will continue to do so because we will not let anyone forget how Modi has been harassing everyone for his personal gains.
On Friday, the West Bengal Police launched a crackdown against key CBI officials as it raided properties including one allegedly owned by the wife of the former interim Director of the agency, M Nageshwar Rao.
