CBI operations on to locate Rajeev Kumar

Kolkata: CBI sleuths kept up their search on Saturday to locate top West Bengal police officer Rajeev Kumar who has been skipping summons of the probe agency in connection with the multi-crore Saradha deposit default scam.

Teams of the special crime branch of CBI visited the office of the CID at Bhabani Bhavan as well as various parts of the city to ascertain the whereabouts of Kumar.

Kumar is the additional director general of CID, West Bengal.

Sources said the CBI sleuths reached a private hospital in South 24 Parganas district to trace the former Kolkata police commissioner.

Kumar is alleged to have suppressed evidence crucial for the investigation into the scam.

The team of CBI officials had on Friday gone to the official residence of Kumar on Park Street and another to a resort in South 24 Parganas to trace him.

Last week, the DG of West Bengal police apprised CBI that Kumar was on leave from September 9 to 25.

The Saradha group of companies allegedly duped lakhs of people of Rs 2500 crore promising higher rates of return on their investments.

Kumar is accused of tampering with crucial evidence in the Saradha chit fund case. He headed a special investigation team set up to investigate the deposit default scam before the Supreme Court handed over the case to in 2014.

The CBI had moved Alipore court in the city on Thursday, seeking an arrest warrant for Kumar.

Disposing off the agency's prayer, the court had said CBI does not need its warrant against Kumar as the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court had already lifted bar on his arrest in the chit fund case.