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Saradha chit fund scam: Options dry for Kolkata ex-top cop Rajeev Kumar after CBI lookout notice

The move came shortly after the West Bengal government reinstated him as the additional director general of the CID

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Saradha chit fund scam: Options dry for Kolkata ex-top cop Rajeev Kumar after CBI lookout notice
Rajeev Kumar has also been summoned by the CBI on Monday
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Former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar has been put on the watchlist of all airports and ports across the country after the CBI issued a lookout notice against him on Sunday.

The CBI also summoned Kumar, who has been accused of tampering with crucial evidence in the Saradha scam, on Monday for questioning, officials said. The move came shortly after the West Bengal government reinstated him as the additional director general of the CID.

A four-member CBI team visited Kumar's official residence in Kolkata in the evening to serve the notice after repeated efforts to contact him over phone failed, officials said. A top CBI officer said, "We want his custodial interrogation in the case."

Kumar lost protection from arrest last week after the Supreme Court, in response to a CBI plea, asked him to seek anticipatory bail from the local court.

Kumar, who was heading the investigation into the Saradha case before the SC transferred it to the CBI in 2014, is in the middle of a high-pitched tussle between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the BJP-led NDA.

A 1989-batch IPS officer, Kumar was removed as the additional director general (CID) of West Bengal by the Election Commission on May 16 for allegedly failing to control violence during the Lok Sabha polls in the state. He had been asked to report to the Union home ministry.

With the conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections, which meant the Election Commission's order to move out Kumar was in no longer in force, the Bengal government late on Sunday asked him to resume as ADG (CID). Sources said he informed the state that he would join immediately.

As they learnt about the development, the served summons on him, asking him to join the investigation.

Kumar took over as the Kolkata police commissioner in January 2016. The EC on April 12 removed him from the post citing his proximity to Mamata Banerjee. He was then posted as ADG (CID) before the poll commission handed him a central posting.

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