Five persons, including the driver and the cook of the former city police commissioner Rajeev Kumar, deposed before the CBI at the CBI’s office at the CGO complex on Saturday. Earlier, they were issued summons by a five-member team that went to the residence of Kumar at Park Street to quiz the police officer’s wife Sanchita Kumar for the second consecutive day today. A source close to the agency said the five persons were interrogated by the sleuths to trace the movements of Kumar.

The CBI sought minute details like when Kumar was last seen, who he had interacted with at regular intervals and who were the persons who visited him more often. The source claimed that a team of five officers, including a woman officer in the rank of DSP, examined Mrs Kumar also regarding the phone number he was using at present. A source claimed that the team was given a number that Kumar was said to be using but the number did not work, informed the source. Earlier, in their desperate effort to track down Rajeev Kumar, who is also the additional director general of CID ( ADG, CID), the CBI team apart from criss-crossing the city roads also extended its dragnet to other states as well.

A team of officers of the agency even conducted a raid at the former city police commissioner’s Chandauli residence in Uttar Pradesh, but drew a blank. They also paid a surprise visit to a private hospital at Pujali based on a specific tip but to no avail. The sleuths also visited the CID headquarters at Bhawani Bhavan and handed over a letter to the IG, CID seeking information about Kumar’s “functional phone number” and “current location”. Meanwhile, a source close to the agency said that the personal assistant to the ADG, CID, Subham Banerjee, who is now employed at Bhawani Bhavan, was also issued summons to depose before the agency at its CGO complex office today.

This morning, a team of five officers of the CBI visited Bhawani Bhavan to inquire about the ADG CID, who they claimed remained “elusive”. They are believed to have talked to the IG, CID, and handed over a letter seeking information about the phone number that Mr Kumar was using and his whereabouts. They have told the IG, CID, categorically that they were in need of current phone number to contact Kumar, who was not responding to their summons.

The sleuths also expressed their displeasure over the fact that Kumar’s phone number given to them was “switchedoff” despite umpteenth efforts to reach him. A CBI source claimed that the agency had information that some four to five officers close to him were in constant touch with him. They were booking rooms at various hotels in their names and changing addresses regularly to evade arrest.