The CBI has moved to the Supreme Court to question senior IPS official and former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar in connection with the Saradha multi-rupee check fund scam case.
The central investigative agency, which has been entrusted with the task of investigating the Ponzi scheme cases in West Bengal by the supreme court, has moved the new petition to question the senior police officer again, claiming that he has not been cooperating with him. in the process. investigation ongoing, a source said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said further questioning of Kumar is necessary to uncover the larger nexus in the scam.
The guilty plea is likely to be brought to the hearing on the reopening of the superior court after the winter break.
The Saradha group of companies allegedly cheated thousands of people out of the sum of Rs 2,500 million, promising higher rates of return on their investments.
The scam was discovered in 2013 during Kumar’s tenure as Bidhannagar Police Commissioner.
Kumar was part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the West Bengal government to investigate the scam, before the Supreme Court handed the case over to the CBI in 2014, along with other check fund cases.
In November last year, the high court had requested the IPS officer’s response to the IWC appeal challenging the advance bond that was granted to him in the fund scam by the Calcutta High Court.
The investigating agency had filed an appeal in the high court against the October 1, 2019 order of the Calcutta High Court, which had granted Kumar relief saying it was not an appropriate case for custody questioning.
The higher court had ordered Kumar to cooperate with the investigating officers and make himself available for questioning 48 hours in advance by the IWC.
On September 21, 2019, the Alipore Session and District Court in Calcutta rejected a statement of bail prior to the arrest of the IPS officer.
The Center and the West Bengal government were also caught in an unprecedented standoff after an IWC team arrived at Kumar’s official residence for questioning, but had to withdraw when local police detained their officers.
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