A day before the Supreme Court is to decide whether his arrest is needed or not, the controversial former Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar on Thursday reported to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Kumar, who was shunted from Kolkata on Wednesday night by the Election Commission, joined the MHA in the afternoon without getting any assignment. The Centre is waiting for the apex court’s order on the CBI’s application to interrogate Kumar, who was involved in a face-off with the agency in connection with Saradha and Rose Valley chit fund scams.
Following his face-off with the CBI, Kumar was posted as ADG, CID in Kolkata.
Currently, Kumar is on attachment with the Home Ministry as per the Election Commission’s order, said a senior MHA official. In an unprecedented move, the poll panel had on Wednesday invoked Article 324 and ordered campaigning in nine West Bengal constituencies to end at 10 pm on Thursday, a day before its scheduled deadline, in the wake of violence between BJP and TMC workers in Kolkata.
Kumar was questioned by the CBI in February this year in connection with its probe in multi-crore Saradha chit fund case. A team of CBI officers was stopped from entering the residence of Kumar, when he was Kolkata Police chief on February 3 when they had gone to question him in connection with the Saradha and Rose Valley scam cases.
The move had led to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee staging a dharna in the heart of the city, protesting against “the attack on constitutional norms”. The CBI had, however, questioned Kumar for several days in Shillong from February 9 following a Supreme Court order.
The CBI had told the apex court that it wanted custodial interrogation of Kumar, who was earlier heading West Bengal Police SIT probing chit fund scam, as there was prima facie evidence of his allegedly trying to destroy or tamper with evidence and “shield high and mighty” in the case.
However, Kumar’s counsel had countered CBI’s submissions and told a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that the agency wanted his custodial interrogation “just to humiliate” him and CBI should not be allowed to abuse the process of law. Kumar’s counsel had told the bench that CBI’s application seeking custodial interrogation of the IPS officer was a “mala fide exercise”.
Kumar was earlier heading the West Bengal Police’s special investigation team (SIT) probing the chit fund scam. The apex court had in May 2014 directed the CBI to investigate the case.