Sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday included a larger chit fund scam case to the Saradha scam within the ambit of their on-going interrogation of Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in Shillong.
Mr. Kumar, who West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee considers the “world’s best police officer”, was grilled for the second successive day, individually and along with former Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh, an accused in the Saradha case. Mr Ghosh was arrested in November 2013 and served three years in prison before receiving bail.
Accompanied by his lawyer Biswajeet Deb, Kolkata Additional Commissioner of Police Jawed Samim and Deputy Commissioner of Special Task Force Murlidhar Sharma, Mr. Kumar arrived at the CBI office in Shillong’s Oakland locality at 10:20 a.m. He was interrogated for a little more than three hours before being allowed a break for lunch.
Upon his return at 3:15 p.m., the focus shifted to the Rose Valley chit fund case, with CBI’s investigating officer Chuzom Sherpa joining the interrogating team.
The ₹17,520 crore Rose Valley scam, which rocked West Bengal in 2013, was a bigger financial fraud than Saradha, which was estimated to be worth ₹2,460 crore. Mr Kumar headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the West Bengal government to investigate both the ponzi scheme cases.
“We are not authorised to disclose what the IPS officer [Mr. Kumar] said. He was quizzed individually, first in connection with the Saradha case and then with the Rose Valley case before the accused [Mr. Ghosh] joined him in the evening,” a mid-rank CBI officer said on condition of anonymity.
There is a possibility of the interrogation of both, individually or together, for two more days.
‘Moral victory’
Mr. Ghosh, whose separate interrogation took place in tandem with that of Mr. Kumar, told reporters, “The CBI is interrogating the very police officer who grilled me. This is my moral victory.”
Mr. Ghosh had earlier implicated BJP leader and former Union Minister Mukul Roy and 12 others in the Saradha scam.
