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The Ponzi scheme scam was worth over Rs 2,500 crore by the Saradha group of companies which had allegedly duped lakhs of customers promising higher rates of returns on their investment, the CBI said.
New Delhi: Following the Calcutta High Court’s order to withdraw interim protection from arrest given to former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Friday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) reached his residence and served him a notice to appear for interrogation.
In a shocking turn of events, the Calcutta HC bench headed by Justice Madhumita Mitra turned down Kumar’s interim protection from arrest in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam and even rejected his plea for quashing of the CBI notice.
Kumar had been given interim protection from May 30 and the High Court has since, extended it multiple times. However, the court observed that if the CBI was conducting the investigation within its parameters, the court did not need to intervene.
Kolkata: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) serves former Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar a notice to appear tomorrow for interrogation in #SaradhaScam https://t.co/79D2NrGoYK
— ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2019
Further, Judge Mitra said that Kumar’s plea that he was being singled out in the interrogation cannot be accepted as the probe agency had questioned officers superior to him as well. The court concluded that the Kolkata top cop was bound to cooperate with the probe agency.
The CBI team has asked Kumar to appear before the agency for questioning in the case on Saturday, September 14.
Rajeev Kumar, who is currently posted as the Additional Director General of West Bengal CID, had moved court on May 22 seeking quashing of the CBI notice asking him to appear for interrogation in connection with the Saradha scam.
On February 3, a group of CBI officials had arrived at the doorstep of Kumar’s residence on Louden street in Kolkata to question him. The team was detained and was taken to a police station before being released.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee later held a 45-hour dharna at the city hub over the unlawful questioning.
The CBI has been seeking Kumar’s custodial interrogation arguing that certain documents were tampered with and removed, during the initial investigation into the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam. Kumar was heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was probing the Ponzi scheme scam.
The Ponzi scheme scam was worth over Rs 2,500 crore by the Saradha group of companies which had allegedly duped lakhs of customers promising higher rates of returns on their investment, the CBI said.
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