Calcutta HC Extends Protection for Rajeev Kumar Till 22 July

Former Kolkata top cop’s request to quash CBI notices relating to Saradha chit fund scam will be heard on 15 July.

File photo of former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

(Photo: PTI)

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday, 2 July, extended the protection from arrest it had granted former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar till 22 July. The court had earlier ordered that Kumar could not be arrested and no coercive action taken against him till 10 July.

The CBI has been looking to question Kumar in connection with the Saradha chit fund case, which was originally investigated by a Kolkata police SIT headed by Kumar. The high court will hear arguments by Kumar to quash CBI’s notices sent to him during the next hearing on 15 July, while the CBI will contest this.

Their attempts to enter his home to question him in January had led to a crisis in Kolkata, with police arresting CBI officers, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee holding dharnas against it, and the CBI moving the Supreme Court alleging breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state.

The apex court had directed Kumar to appear before the CBI in Meghalaya’s capital Shillong, a neutral venue, to answer their questions. Although Kumar did appear before them, the CBI decided they wanted to take him into custody as his answers weren’t satisfactory. The matter once again went to the Supreme Court, which granted Kumar protection from arrest till 17 May.

Kumar is currently serving as Additional Director General, CID, West Bengal. The CBI continue to want to conduct custodial interrogation of him, and are reportedly contemplating filing a supplementary chargesheet against him to name him as a co-accused, which would make this easier. They sent a notice to Kumar in May asking for him to attend questioning in this context.

When Kumar initially moved the Calcutta High Court to quash the notice, it passed an interim order granting him protection from arrest till 10 July. The order also specified that he would need to cooperate with the CBI, would need to submit his passport to the court within 24 hours, and also required him to record his attendance with a CBI officer at 4 pm every day – effectively keeping him under house arrest.

On Tuesday, Kumar requested the court for an extension of the protection and also to be allowed to move out of Kolkata rather than being kept under house arrest, on the grounds that he needed to do this to fulfill his duties with the CID. The court granted the request for the extension, but has not yet made a decision on his ‘house arrest’.

The CBI asked for a day-to-day hearing from 8 July to wrap the case up before the original period of protection granted by the court ended on 10 July.

The matter will now be taken up again on 15 July.