On Sunday in Shillong, Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar was questioned for the second consecutive day by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Saradha ponzi scandal, informed an official agency.
During the interrogation, Kumar was brought face to face with former Trinamool Congress parliamentarian Kunal Ghosh, who has also been brought to the Shillong office for investigation purpose. Ghosh was arrested in 2013 and was subsequently suspended by the party. Since 2016, he has been out on bail.
Initially, Ghosh was interviewed in a separate room, but late in the evening they were brought together for a brief time period, the official said. Kumar questioning began around 10:30am. The 1989 batch IPS officer was questioned for about eight hours on Saturday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is probing allegations against Kumar relating to the chit fund scandal in which Saradha Group had cheated at least two million people out of their savings. The case involved financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore. The fraud came to light in 2013 when the firm, which had several other business interests had collapsed.
The agency which led a special investigation team that probed the case has filed a charge against Kumar that he compromised the evidences in the probe in the Saradha Chit fund scam.
The Supreme Court had directed Kumar to appear before the CBI and had ordered him to cooperate in the investigation of cases arising out of the scandal. The court chose Shillong as the neutral meeting place “to avoid all unnecessary controversy” and had made it clear that Kumar would not be arrested. The CBI approached the Supreme Court after its officials were detained by Kolkata Police when they had gone to Kumar official residence in the city to question him on February 3.
The official have informed that the Central Agency has prepared a questionnaire for Kumar, and the questioning is done in a phased manner and it is being videographed as requested by the Kolkata Police chief.