The Ranchi police on Monday finally received permission to grill Sherghati Sessions Judge Rajesh Kumar whose name surfaced in Tara Shahdeo case for his alleged links with Ranjeet Singh Kohli alias Raquibul Hassan.
Kumar is said to have accompanied Kohli’s mother Kaushal Rani to flee from Sherghati to Patna by road and from Patna to Delhi by air in order to avoid her arrest after an FIR was lodged by Tara Shahdeo at Hindpiri police station.
“Today we have received permission from Patna High Court for interrogating Sherghati Sessions Judge Rajesh Kumar and now he will be issued notice soon to come over to Ranchi to get his statement recorded before the Investigating Officer,” said a senior police officer.
Earlier, Kumar refused to entertain a police team, which had gone to interrogate him following which Ranchi police had written to the Registrar General of Patna High Court seeking permission to interrogate him.
An FIR was later lodged against Kumar and two others -— Constable Ajay Kumar and one of Kohli’s friend Rohit Raman — on August 7 for ‘harbouring the offender’ at Hindpiri police station in Ranchi.
CCTV footages at Delhi and Patna airports have revealed that Kumar played a pivotal role in helping Kohli, and Kaushal Rani to flee from Ranchi after Shahdeo lodged an FIR against them. Shahdeo accused both Kohli and her mother of hiding their identity, forceful conversion, unlawful confinement and assault.
Three others - Principal District and Session Judge of Deohghar Pankaj Srivastava, Principal District and Session Judge of Hazaribagh Nageshwar Prasad and Additional District Sessions Judge of Deoghar Mrs Veena Mishra have already recorded their statements appearing before the investigating officer Deepak Ambashtha on Friday.
Although, the three judges accepted before the police that they knew Kohli, but at the same time they also denied to having ever helped Kohli in his nefarious activities.
The police however, are still clueless about taking over the case by the CBI as no formal intimation has been received so far from the Centre by the state police. Chief Minister Hemant Soren, considering the sensitivity of the case recommended it to the CBI in order to pave way for free and fair investigation into the case.