CBI turns heat on Bengal govt to trace Rajeev Kumar

Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has started mounting pressure on the Trinamul Congress government to trace senior IPS officer Rajeev Kumar to prosecute him in the Saradha chit fund scam, without giving him one month time he had begged for on Saturday.

As Mr Kumar remains in hibernation, the CBI, in a tactical move, sent a team to Nabanna, the state secretariat in Howrah housing chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s office, on Sunday afternoon to deliver letters to top three bureaucrats: chief secretary Malay De, home secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay and director general of police (DGP) Virendra, seeking information on the former Kolkata police commissioner’s whereabouts.

The cops of the Kolkata police, who were posted at Nabanna’s entrance, were surprised when the three-member CBI team, armed with the letters, reached there at around 5 pm. After waiting for 15 minutes, the CBI team, escorted by a police officer, was allowed to go inside.

While two letters to the DGP were delivered after examination, two more could not be delivered. The CBI team was told that the two other letters could not be accepted because the offices of the chief secretary and home secretary were closed as it was a holiday. Not losing hope, the CBI will visit Nabanna again on Monday to deliver the letters to the chief secretary and the home secretary.

The CBI’s move came after its officers consulted its counsel Y.J. Dastoor during a visit to his residence on Saturday afternoon to explore steps to tighten the noose around Mr Kumar, who is also the additional director general of the criminal investigation department of the West Bengal police.

It was decided that the top three bureaucrats would be sent letters to know about Mr Kumar’s present location since a section of senior state government officials, soon after the Calcutta high court withdrew the blanket protection on his arrest on September 13 afternoon, started claiming on anonymity that the former Kolkata police commissioner has been on leave, according to sources.

If Mr Kumar is on leave, the state government, especially the home department and DGP, would have been aware of his location courtesy to the service rules binding a government servant to intimate his or her address even while on leave, sources in the CBI indicated.

Incidentally, Mr Kumar had sent an email to the CBI on Saturday, praying for one month’s time for the treatment of his wife, who is in another state. But the CBI has not replied to his plea so far. Meanwhile, Mr Dastoor has been called to the CBI Headquarters in New Delhi to chalk out legal steps if Mr Kumar moves the Supreme Court for relief on Monday.

Mocking Mr Kumar over his hibernation, BJP national general secretary Rahul Sinha said, “He is trying to evade the CBI to save someone else. There is someone bigger than him behind his hiding. If he is caught, many stalwarts will be held. When Congress leader P. Chidambaram failed to evade his arrest, Mr Kumar is a small fry.”