Grilled for 40 hours in five days, Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar tells SC

NEW DELHI: Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Monday appeared before the Supreme Court (SC) in New Delhi and informed the top court that the CBI had questioned him for 40 hours in five days in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam.

Kumar also told the apex court that he finds it "very intriguing" as to why the "major decision" to grill him in connection with this case was taken by the CBI on February 3.

It is to be noted that February 3 was also last day of the then interim CBI Director M Nageswara Rao.

On February 5, the apex court had passed an order directing the Kolkata top cop to "faithfully cooperate with the CBI at all times" in connection with the chit fund scam. The SC had also ordered the country's premier investigating agency not to arrest Kumar during his questioning.

The SC passed the order just two days after the February 3 incident in which the CBI officers were stopped by Kolkata Police to quiz Kumar in connection with Saradha scam. The CBI officers were detained and taken into custody by Kolkata Police when they arrived at Kumar's residence to quiz him. The CBI had then approached the apex court seekings its intervention in this case.

In his affidavit, Kumar said he was "subjected to approximately 40 hours of questioning spread over 5 days, from February 9 to February 13" during which he was in Shillong, and "continued to join the investigation, responding to each query truthfully and to his best knowledge, despite the questions being repetitive in nature".

Referring to the February 3 incident, Kumar tried to lay the blame on the CBI, saying that the agency's officials arrived at his residence in a clandestine manner on Sunday with media personnel, "after having gone in media describing me as an absconder, with the sole intent to harass me and tarnish my reputation and impeccable service record".

(with PTI inputs)