Within an hour of the Supreme Court’s order , Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials met at their eastern Kolkata office to form teams to send to Shillong where Kolkata’s Commissioner of Police (CP) Rajeev Kumar’s next round of interrogation will take place.
“No coercive steps, including arrest” can be initiated against Mr. Kumar, the Court noted. Senior government officials told The Hindu that at the end of this interrogation “a chargesheet could be produced” against him.
“CBI had this tradition of moving the Court, seeking warrant before arresting a high-profile accused. That tradition was largely altered around the time of Ranjit Sinha in 2012. In this case, that old pattern may be brought back. After interrogation, CBI may move the court, appeal to vacate today’s order which puts a stay on the arrest and take him (Mr. Kumar) into custody if they have enough evidence…now things will move via Court,” a senior government official said.
The CBI sent three notices earlier to Mr. Kumar. Mr Kumar replied to the letters citing various reasons on why he cannot appear before the CBI on the dates indicated by the CBI.
In the case of non-cooperation during interrogation by Mr. Kumar, CBI may have to move the Court to seek permission for custodial interrogation.
In the course of interrogation, the CBI may try to find about two items – a pen drive in which all data are stored and the diary of Debjani Mukherjee, Saradha Group CMD and one of the key accused in the financial scam.
The BJP has been demanding to know the whereabouts of this diary and pen drive. Apparently, Ms. Mukherjee noted the names of the beneficiaries of the Ponzi scheme in the diary. The Saradha Group’s office was located in the Biddhanagar Police Commissionerate area and Mr. Kumar was the first Commissioner to investigate the Saradha Group. CBI officials feel that he has a good idea about the items.
But, lawyers familiar with the case, say that there is no evidence to suggest that Mr. Kumar was ever in possession of the pen drive or diary. “If he knew about those and did not produce it in court as Alamat (items listed in seizure list) then it is an offence. But does he know about the pen drive or diary? So far there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Kumar is aware of those. CBI has to establish that if they are trying to locate the items,” a lawyer said.
The call record tampering is another of CBI’s area of interest and investigation.
Meanwhile, complying with Election Commission’s (EC) intent to replace officers who are in their respective positions for more than three years, the Chief Minister may replace Mr. Kumar anytime now, before the EC’s Model Code of Conduct is imposed.
The names of officers doing the rounds for the CP’s post are that of Anuj Sharma, ADG, Law and Order and Sudhir Mishra, Deputy State Security Adviser. However, there is no guarantee that the EC will not bring in its person, once the Code of Conduct is imposed in about a month from now.
Mr. Kumar was the Kolkata CP prior to the 2016 Assembly polls. However, the EC asked the State government to remove Mr. Kumar from his post following complaints of bias from various political parties (not the Trinamool Congress). The EC then recommended IPS officer Soumen Mitra. Since the Model Code was in place, the State government at the time had to listen to the EC and replace Mr. Kumar with Mr. Mitra as the city’s Police Commissioner.
However, when the Trinamool Congress swept to power in the polls, Mr. Kumar was brought back. In a few weeks, in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, it remains to be seen if the State and EC will lock horns again on this crucial posting.
