Kolkata police chief Rajeev Kumar at CBI office for questioning in chit fund scam

Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar reached the CBI office in Shillong on Saturday for questioning in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam, days after a standoff between the Mamata Banerjee government and the Centre.

Kumar arrived in Meghalaya capital Shillong on Friday for the questioning as per Supreme Court orders that had also made it clear that Kumar cannot be arrested by the CBI.

Kumar, who headed a special investigation team that looked into the ponzi case and is accused of destroying evidence to allegedly protect the accused, sent a letter to CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla and offered himself for questioning in Shillong.

In an unprecedented turn of events on Sunday night, a CBI team was detained by the Kolkata police after they reached Kumar’s residence in connection with the probe.

They were released three hours later after the Union home



ministry worked the phones, but the incident led to a standoff between the West Bengal government and the Centre, with chief minister Mamata Banerjee launching a protest and accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah of plotting a ‘coup’ and using the CBI and government agencies to threaten political opponents.

She called off the protest — which drew the support of several regional party leaders planning a grand alliance against the BJP — 45 hours later on the third day following the Supreme Court’s intervention.

The CBI has meanwhile dispatched a team of 10 officers to the Bengal capital to help the local unit headed by joint director Pankaj Srivastava to probe chit fund scam cases in the state.

The officers have been put at the disposal of Srivasatva, who is leading the CBI probe into chit fund scams, and will remain there till February 20.