Kolkata: Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar has written to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Alok Verma, questioning the role of the central investigating agency in seeking answer to any doubt that they might have had about the role of the investigating officer or supervising officers associated with the probe of the Saradha multi-crore scam.
"No effort was made by the investigating agency to seek answer to any doubt, which they might have had, about the role of investigating officer or supervising officers. It will be out of place to mention that two inspectors who were associated with investigation of the case were examined under section 160 of CrPC. Surprisingly, no other senior officer has been sent such a notice," Kumar has stated in his letter to the CBI director. In his letter, Kumar has requested the CBI chief to replace the existing team of officials with new and 'impartial' officers, who could investigate the matter in an unbiased manner. It may be mentioned that the Saradha case was first investigated by the detective department of BPC and Kumar was the Commissioner of BPC at that time. The Saradha case was initiated on the basis of complaints lodged at Electronics Complex police station and it was Kumar who had sent officials to Kashmir and arrested Saradha boss Sudipta Sen and another director of the company, Debjani Mukherjee. Kumar, however, has stated clearly that he is ready to hand over evidences to an official who is ready to conduct an impartial enquiry without pursuing any agenda. He maintained that he would be ready to furnish all details to such impartial investigating officials. A senior CBI official has claimed that a few months ago, they had sent an email to Kumar, asking him to appear for questioning at the CBI office in Kolkata. However, according to the officer, Kumar has not responded to any such call as of now. It may be mentioned that then Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh, who was then arrested in the case, had given a written statement to the CBI and alleged that Kumar was instrumental in destroying all the evidences in the case, in connivance with some other officials of the state police. The BJP has time and again alleged that Kumar has destroyed evidence in the Saradha case, in order to shield TMC leaders. Kumar in February 2017 had filed a defamation suit against BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya for accusing him of evidence tampering.