The Supreme Court of India has vacated its previous order dated February 5, 2019 which prevented the Former Police Commissioner of Kolkata – Rajeev Kumar from getting arrested, over his involvement in tampering of evidences in Saradha Chit Fund scam.
The Supreme Court has however, given 7 days to Rajeev Kumar to get anticipatory bail from an appropriate Court. A bench headed by the Chief Justice – Ranjan Gogoi said that if Rajeev Kumar is unable to get the anticipatory bail, the CBI would be free to act in accordance with law in the case.
Pronouncing the order, Ranjan Gogoi said, “We have withdrawn the protection given to Rajeev Kumar vide order dated February 5.”
The ruling came after Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) submitted sealed documents establishing Rajeev’s role in destroying evidences related to Saradha scam.
Prior to this, on February 3, 2019, Kolkata Police had rounded up a team of 8 CBI officials who had gone to the bungalow of Rajeev Kumar to question him. Kolkata Police later took the CBI Officials to Shakespeare Sarani Police Station, giving rise to an unprecedented confrontation between the Centre and the State.
On learning about the development, the Chief Minister of West Bengal – Mamata Banerjee first rushed to the bungalow of Rajeev Kumar and accused CBI of trying to stage a “constitutional coup in Bengal”. She then went to the heart of the city to start her dharna and raise her voice against the entire issue.
Later, on February 5, 2019, the Supreme Court said that no coercive action, including the arrest of Rajeev Kumar, should take place during investigations. The Apex Court also directed Rajeev Kumar to faithfully cooperate with CBI. The Supreme Court had told CBI to question Mr. Kumar at a neutral venue in Shillong.
After interrogating Rajeev for 5 days, the CBI told the Supreme Court that it wanted custodial interrogation of the senior police officer. Kumar, who was shifted out as Bengal’s Additional Director General of police in-charge of the CID, was shunted out of the State on the Election Commission’s orders and was directed to report to the Home Ministry in Delhi.
For the records, Saradha scam was a major financial fraud which lured lakhs of investors to deposit money in its schemes with promise of abnormally high returns. According to an official estimate, Saradha had mopped up about Rs. 1,200 crores through its chit funds. The company collapsed in April 2013.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed by the State of West Bengal in April 2013 to probe into the chit fund scam. The SIT was headed by Rajeev Kumar. During the investigations, SIT collected a laptop, 5 cell phones and documents, including a diary of Saradha Group promoter – Sudipta Sen.
The case was taken up by the CBI in 2014 on the Supreme Court’s orders. CBI claims that it was discovered during court proceedings that the crucial evidence seized by the SIT were not handed over to CBI.
