india

Updated: Oct 01, 2019 12:32 IST

Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar was granted anticipatory bail on Tuesday by a division bench of the Calcutta High Court in the Saradha chit fund case.

Kumar has to serve a surety bond of Rs 50,000. The court ruled that there is no need for custodial interrogation, but he has to appear for questioning whenever Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) summons him.

The CBI has accused Kumar of withholding and tampering evidence to shield influential persons who benefitted from the ponzi scam. Some of the items that the special investigation team (SIT), which was then headed by Kumar, allegedly withheld from the CBI were diaries and a pen drive containing details of payoffs made by the Saradha group to political leaders and influential persons.

The petition in the high court was the third application for anticipatory bail by Kumar, who is currently posted as the additional director general of the Criminal Investigation Department of Bengal Police. He had earlier applied for bail at the district court in North 24 Parganas district that said it did not have jurisdiction, and Judges Court at Alipore had rejected his plea.

During the same time, CBI moved two petitions for non-bailable arrest warrant against Rajeev Kumar. While a special court for MLAs and MPs in North 24 Parganas district said it did not have jurisdiction, the additional chief judicial magistrate at Alipore ruled that the agency could arrest Kumar without a warrant.

Kumar had remained untraceable since September 13 when the high court removed the protection of arrest cover from him.

The CBI launched a manhunt for Rajeev Kumar but without any success. The SIT investigated the Saradha scam till CBI took over the case on 2014 with the Supreme Court asking the agency to also probe the role of influential persons and the larger design behind the scam.