Rajeev Kumar moves court seeking anticipatory bail
KOLKATA: Lawyers for former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Friday filed a petition in the Alipore district and sessions court seeking anticipatory bail against his arrest by the CBI in a case related to the Saradha Group financial scandal, as he remained untraceable for a week.
“We have filed a petition for anticipatory bail...it is set to come up for hearing tomorrow noon,” said Kumar’s counsel Gopal Haldar.
The petition was filed a day after the CBI moved additional chief judicial magistrate in the Alipore court seeking a non-bailable arrest warrant against Kumar. Judge Subrata Mukherjee said the CBI could arrest him even without a warrant, observing that the agency could approach the court if it faced any impediments in arresting Kumar.
On Friday afternoon, officers of the investigative agency visited the official residence of Kumar on Park Street and spent more than an hour on the premises. According to CBI officers, they also asked Kumar’s wife about the whereabouts of Kumar, who has not responded to summons from the agency to present himself for questioning in connection with the Saradha Group scandal.
The agency’s officers have alleged that Kumar has remained untraceable since September 13, when a Calcutta high court order removed the protective shield Kumar that prevented his arrest, paving the way for the CBI to arrest him if the agency felt it was necessary.
Since then CBI has not only been looking for Kumar, but also approached the state’s top officials – chief secretary, home secretary and director general of police – to find out his whereabouts. They were told that Kumar is on leave until September 25.
Kumar, an additional director general of the Criminal Investigation Department of the state police, is under investigation for allegedly suppressing evidence in the Saradha ponzi scheme scandal and shielding influential people who benefitted from it.