Calcutta High Court on Thursday, 30 May, accepted the plea of former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar seeking CBI notices directing him to appear before the agency be quashed, on conditions that he has to deposit his passport & cooperate with the agency.
For attendance, CBI shall go to Rajeev Kumar's residence everyday at 4 pm. ANI reported that he cannot go outside Kolkata and no coercive steps will be taken against Kumar for one month. The next hearing on 12th June.
Former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, who is presently posted as the Additional Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department of the West Bengal Police, has moved to the Calcutta High Court in order to quash a summon issued to him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 25 May.
The CBI had issued a summon to Kumar on Sunday, 25 May, asking him to appear before them on Monday, 26 May to assist probing in the Saradha chit fund case. Kumar had dodged the CBI summon, seeking a week’s time to make his appearance, stating that he was on leave.
Justice Pratik Prakash Banerjee granted leave to Kumar’s counsel for filing a petition in the registry of the court and moved the matter for hearing at 2 pm.
Earlier in the day, Kumar’s counsel had moved the vacation bench of the high court and prayed for leave to file the petition.
According to sources, Kumar’s lawyers are expected to argue that the summon notice issued by the CBI is riddled with mistakes and does not offer enough grounds to summon a former police commissioner.
Meanwhile the CBI in Kolkata questioned IPS officer Arnab Ghosh, a member of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), that was initially investigating the Saradha scam on Wednesday 29 May. Rajeev Kumar had headed the SIT at the time.
The Supreme Court had last week dismissed a plea of Kumar seeking extension of protection from arrest in the multi-crore chit fund scam case after the apex court had withdrawn his protection from arrest in the scam on 17 May. The court had thereafter given him seven days to seek anticipatory bail.
(With inputs from PTI.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)