Calcutta HC grants anticipatory bail to former top cop Rajeev Kumar in Saradha scam case

In a major relief for former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kukar, the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday granted him anticipatory bail in the Saradha ponzi scam case.

The Division Bench of the high court asked the senior IPS officers to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety in order to get the anticipatory bail.

The bench of Justices S. Munshi and S Dasgupta, however, ordered Kumar to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation whenever the cnetral probe agency summoned him for questioning in connection with Saradha scam. The court also asked the CBI to give a 48-hour notice to Kumar whenever they want to quiz him.

Kumar, a close aide of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is accused of tampering with evidence in Saradha chit fund case. It is to be noted that Kumar was leading the special investigation team of the West Bengal Police to probe the scam before the case transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Supreme Court's order. Kumar is currently the Additional Director General of Crime Investigation Department (CID), West Bengal. 

On Saturday, a local court rejected his anticipatory bail plea, a day after the court stated that the CBI has right to arrest him in the scam. During the course of proceedings, the CBI contended that Kumar violated the order of the Calcutta High Court as he was directed to stay at home, but now his whereabouts are not known.