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Saradha chit fund scam: CBI seeks Rajeev Kumar's custody

Besides the sealed cover, the CBI also presented the case diary in the ongoing investigation before the court

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Former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar.
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The face-off between the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the West Bengal government over the Saradha chit fund scam probe entered a decisive phase on Wednesday, when the probe agency submitted documents in a sealed cover to incriminate former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar.

Besides the sealed cover, the CBI also presented the case diary in the ongoing investigation before the court. This case diary contained a crucial statement by the earlier investigating officer of the Saradha case, who gave the CBI a confession that the return of four mobiles and laptops was done at the insistence of Kumar.

On his part, Kumar denied this claim, and showed a subsequent statement given by the same officer on affidavit where he denied attributing anything of this nature to Kumar.

However, the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, and justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna quizzed the West Bengal police represented by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi on this disclosure. "All we are required to see is whether there is material before us to order custodial interrogation of the former commissioner of Kolkata Police," the bench said.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing CBI, informed the court that consequences should not deter the court if there is material to show not "mere lapses" on part of the West Bengal special investigation team (SIT) headed by Kumar, but a wilful attempt to destroy evidence in order to shield the influential.

On viewing the case diary, the court connected the loose ends. In the process, it also rapped the CBI, pointing out that the probe agency cannot maintain a case diary as loose sheets, rather as a bound document, particularly when investigating a case as sensitive as this.

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