KOLKATA: CBI officials posted here have started returning to Kolkata from their Delhi headquarters, with instructions to reach Shillong by Saturday for the interrogation of Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar . This means the city top cop will get at least two more days to prepare for his questioning by CBI officials.

Senior Kolkata Police officials had indicated on Tuesday that Kumar was ready to face the CBI team by Friday itself. Their decision came the very day Supreme Court cleared Kumar’s interrogation by CBI but with the rider that it could not arrest or take any “coercive action” against him.

The CBI’s move to send its officers to Shillong on Saturday means the earliest the grilling can start will be Sunday. This, say Kolkata Police officials helping their boss prepare for the session with the CBI, suits them fine. Senior state police officials have, with help from the state criminal investigation department , prepared a list of “80-100 likely questions” that the CBI may throw at Kumar.

“A CID team, led by an officer of the rank of additional director general, came down to Lalbazar to talk to the KP legal team,” an officer said.

The timeline of the CBI session with Kumar has become important because of several factors. The Bengal government must transfer Kumar from his current post of the city’s police commissioner, in accordance with the Election Commission’s directive, by February 28. CM Mamata Banerjee earlier indicated that these routine transfers would be completed between February 15 and 20. CBI officials have also indicated they would like to wrap up Kumar’s interrogation before the Supreme Court next hears the case on February 20.

CM Banerjee has already made light of the CBI interrogation in Shillong, describing it as much-needed “two days of relaxation” for the overworked Kolkata top cop who she has compared to the “best in the world”.

The CID team has already gone through the 24-point submission the CBI made in the apex court to “anticipate the likely questions” Kumar may face. They even sought inputs from members of the special investigation team set up by the West Bengal government to probe the Saradha chit fund scam case.

Officials also said that two senior state police officers (an additional commissioner and a deputy commissioner) are likely to travel to Shillong with Kumar. “The CBI has charged Kumar with tampering call details. But it was J&K Police that first arrested Sudipta Sen and Debjani Mukherjee (two of the accused in the case) and made the initial seizures. Has the CBI spoken to J&K Police?” asked a former SIT official, indicating their line of thought in preparing Kumar for the CBI questioning.

Officials, simultaneously, are mulling their response to the contempt notice against state chief secretary Malay De, director general of police Virendra and KP commissioner Kumar. Documents that will be attached in reply include a letter by Virendra last August, in which he suggested a joint meeting of probe officers from several agencies at a “neutral” place. The letter also said that all queries from the CBI would get quick responses.



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