New Delhi: As the CBI's search for Rajeev Kumar in Kolkata and other adjoining regions entered its seventh day since the Calcutta High Court lifted his arrest shield last Friday, the former Kolkata Police Commissioner has filed yet another application in the Alipore Sessions Court, seeking anticipatory bail in the Saradha chit fund case.
According to Kumar's lawyer, the anticipatory bail plea was filed on Friday and will be taken up for hearing by the court at 12 pm on Saturday (today).
Meanwhile, the special CBI teams constituted to locate the IPS officer, who has not been seen for a week now, roamed around the city, hitting spots he is suspected to visit or could be found at, according to officials.
In fact, a team from the Central Bureau of Investigation visited Kumar's official residence at 34, Park Street, where sources said his wife was asked if she had any knowledge of his whereabouts.
The central probe agency had issued a summons to him, the fourth one in a week, asking him to join the investigation at 11 am on Friday, however, officials said that Kumar had failed to appear before the agency and neither did he respond to the summons. But after the agency had issued the first summons to Kumar, asking him to appear last Saturday, Kumar had written to CBI officials noting that he was willing to join the probe but could not do so at the moment as he was on leave until September 25.
An Alipore court had on Wednesday denied the CBI's request to issue a non-bailable warrant (NBW) for Kumar's arrest, remarking that the agency had full right to make the arrest based on earlier orders of the Supreme Court of India and the Calcutta High Court. The court had also told the CBI to approach it if officials were "manhandled" while trying to perform their duties.
However, the Calcutta High Court, while lifting Kumar's arrest shield had observed that he is not yet an accused in the case and is merely a witness, despite which the CBI proceeded to seek an arrest warrant for him.
After three days of approaching three separate courts in West Bengal's North and South 24 Parganas districts for the NBW against Kumar, the CBI's request was denied. But so far, both the Barasat special court and Barasat District court have also dismissed Kumar's anticipatory bail plea, citing that it does not have jurisdiction in the matter.
The CBI has also sought Kumar's "active" contact number from the head of West Bengal Police, in a bid to trace the former top cop's location, after having approached top officials of the state government in multiple letters.