The CBI vs Kolkata police case has taken a strong turn as the CBI has now turned to Supreme Court seeking directions to Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to cooperate with CBI in the investigation of Saradha Chit Fund Case.
“If Kolkata Police Commissioner even remotely thinks of destroying evidence, bring the material before this Court. We will come down so heavily on him that he will regret,” CJI Gogoi said.
CBI is stating this move to be aimed at investigating for the 'crucial evidence' which has either been not reported or destroyed affecting the investigation in the Saradha Chit Fund Case.
“Crucial evidence was not handed over. It was either destroyed. We want to take the investigation further. We are looking into the larger conspiracy connected to the chit fund scams,” said Pankaj Srivastav, CBI Joint Director in Kolkata.
CBI sources have also claimed this evidence “holds the key to connecting these scams to influential persons” in West Bengal and outside.
According to the report by CBI, the evidence which was collected by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the state in April 2013 to probe the Saradha chit fund scam which was headed by Kumar, includes a laptop, five cellphones and documents, including a diary purportedly of Saradha Group promoter Sudipta Sen.
The case was given to the CBI in 2014 on the Supreme Court orders.
“During the interrogation of those arrested in the Saradha scam and other chit fund scams, we found that crucial evidence seized by the SIT was not handed over to us. This included a diary, pen drives and documents that were seized from Sen offices. We learnt that they had the names of influential people and records of payment,” said a CBI officer.
CBI sources also said that they have been trying to question Rajeev Kumar for the last few years. “We have been calling his office, and even wrote to him to cooperate. But he seemed to be unwilling,” they claimed.