Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday said that Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar is West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's "servant as he works on her directions."
MP from the state's Baharampur constituency, Chowdhury said: "There is no democracy in Bengal. It is with the help of the ruling government that people were looted in the chit fund scam. This Police Commissioner is Mamata's servant. He will do whatever she says."
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Rajeev Kumar to appear before the CBI in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam probe.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, however, said that no coercive step should be taken against Kumar, who will now appear before the CBI in Shillong in Meghalaya.
The Supreme Court, which posted further hearing in the case to February 20, also issued a contempt notice to West Bengal Chief Secretary, the DGP and the Kolkata Police Commissioner on a plea which said that a CBI team was detained when it went to question Kumar on Sunday.
The Supreme Court's directions came a day after the CBI approached the apex court to complain that Kumar, a senior IPS officer, was not cooperating in the chit fund scam probe, which being monitored by the top court.
An attempt by the CBI to question Kumar at his residence in Kolkata on Sunday was foiled by the local police, which detained the team of the central investigative agency for some time.
The CBI, in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, alleged that there were several incriminating materials or correspondence in the Saradha chit fund case that were collected during the investigation by the CBI against the senior police officials and politicians.
The CBI affidavit states that "the investigation was being done by an SIT and crucial evidence such as laptops, mobile phones among others was handed over to the main accused in Saradha scam case by the investigating officer of West Bengal police working under the direct supervision of Rajeev Kumar."
The affidavit further states that the "return of crucial evidence to main accused by the SIT, despite regular monitoring by Calcutta High Court, clearly shows connivance of SIT to a larger conspiracy wherein local authorities obstructed probe and attempted to destroy evidence prior to the transfer of the case to CBI by the Supreme Court."
The CBI had on Monday filed a contempt plea in the Supreme Court against the Chief Secretary of West Bengal, the Director General of Police and the Kolkata Police Commissioner for their alleged willful and deliberate violation of the apex court orders.
The agency said the non-cooperation of Rajeev Kumar was brought to the notice of the West Bengal DGP. However, neither the DGP nor the Police Commissioner cooperated alleged the CBI.
The CBI is investigating this case under a "hostile environment and non-cooperation from the state of West Bengal and its agencies/departments," the petition said.
Rajeev Kumar, a 1989-batch IPS officer, has been serving as Kolkata's Police Commissioner since January 2016. He has allegedly not responded summons from the CBI in connection with their probe into the Rose Valley and Saradha ponzi scams.
Kumar led the SIT investigation into the scams until 2014 when the agency took over following directions from the Supreme Court. The CBI was slated to question Kumar about documents that reportedly went missing.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
