CBI forms special team to trace Rajeev Kumar

New Delhi: The CBI on Tuesday constituted a special team to trace former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar as he failed to appear before the central probe agency on Tuesday in connection with the Saradha scam case. The agency sleuths conducted searches at multiple locations to track him down.

The CBI also approached a Calcutta court on Tuesday to issue a non-bailable arrest warrant (NBW) against Mr Kumar. The court refused to hear the anticipatory bail plea of Mr Kumar citing issues of jurisdiction. The move by the CBI came after Mr Kumar failed to respect the third summon by the agency in last four days, sources said. The former top cop of Kolkata has been under the scanner of the agency for allegedly tampering evidence and giving protection to certain politicians in the Sarada chit fund scam. The agency is trying to locate Mr Kumar and has even written to the West Bengal DGP and the chief secretary to instruct Mr Kumar to appear before the investigation team, said a senior official of the agency.

“The agency had given him the notice to appear at 10 am on Tuesday but he failed to turn up. After writing a letter to the DGP of West Bengal, we also wrote a letter to the lawyer of Rajeev Kumar on Monday and asked him to direct the former top cop of Kolkata to join the investigation. Now we have no option but to take strict measures against him”, said the official. If a non-bailable warrant is issued against Mr Kumar, it will be seen as big embarrassment for the senior officer. Mr Kumar is believed to be very close to West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee.

The West Bengal DGP, in a letter on Monday, told the CBI that its notices were sent to Mr Kumar’s official residence and his response is awaited, sources said. The DGP also told the CBI that Mr Kumar is on leave till September 25. It also believed that Mr Kumar is trying legal remedies available to him. Mr Kumar, through his counsel, has sent a communication to DGP saying ‘he is pursuing legal remedies and he can not appear before CBI for next few days’. The CBI had already informed the court that it wanted custodial interrogation of Mr Kumar. Earlier, when the CBI had summoned Mr Kumar for the first time for questioning last year, Ms Banerjee sat on dharna against the CBI and the Central government.