In a recent development in the Saradha chit fund scam, the Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar. The court’s notice came on a plea by CBI seeking Kumar’s arrest and custodial interrogation in the case.
Hearing the plea, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bodbe told the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that he must have top convince him on why Kumar’s arrest is necessary as he is a high-ranking officer.
Back in 2013 when the scam was uncovered, Kumar was the Police Commissioner at Bidhannagar.
In response to the court, Mehta said that Kumar’s arrest was required as CBI has gathered evidence to establish that he had either suppressed vital evidence connected to the scam or destroyed it. As per Mehta, the act was done to shield someone.
The scam summed to around Rs 2500 crore as lakhs of people were cheated on the false promise of higher returns on investments. In order to probe the matter, a Special Investigation Team was set up by the West Bengal government. Later, the case was transferred to CBI in 2014.
The Calcutta High Court ordered if the CBI were to arrest Kumar then he would have to be released on bail. He also has to give two sureties of Rs 50,000 each. The court had also said that it was not an appropriate case of custodial interrogation.
On September 21, a trial court rejected Sanjeev Kumar’s bail plea and since May, the CBI has issued multiple notices asking him to appear for questioning. In May, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Kumar’s plea seeking the extension on protection from arrest in the scam.
The court observed, “We would withdraw the protection given to Rajeev Kumar, former Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, vide our order dated February 05, 2019 restraining the CBI from arresting him and thereby, leave it open to the CBI to act in accordance with the law.”
“At the same time, we direct that the interim order dated February 05, 2019 would continue for a period of seven days from the date of pronouncement of this order to enable Kumar to approach the competent court for relief, if so advised,” the court added.