Saradha Scam: The CBI is on the lookout for Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar

Senior police officer Rajeev Kumar failed to turn up at the Kolkata CBI office yet again today, a day after the agency issued a fresh notice, asking him to appear before it in connection with the probe into Saradha chit fund scam, sources said.

The former Kolkata police commissioner is alleged to have suppressed evidence crucial for the investigation into the multi-crore ponzi scam.

This was the third occasion since Saturday that Rajeev Kumar defied CBI summons to appear before its investigating team at the CGO complex office in Salt Lake.

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team had been searching for Rajeev Kumar, who is now the Additional Director General of Police in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), across various locations in Kolkata.

In a letter to the West Bengal Director General of Police (DGP), the agency had on Thursday sought Kumar''s phone number on which he could be contacted.

Rajeev Kumar was part of a special investigation team (SIT) set up by the West Bengal government to investigate the scam before the Supreme Court handed over the case to the CBI in 2014, along with other chit fund cases.

The CBI had moved Alipore court in the city on Thursday, seeking an arrest warrant for Rajeev Kumar.

Disposing off the agency's prayer, the court said the CBI does not need its warrant against Rajeev Kumar, as the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court had already lifted bar on his arrest in the chit fund case.

The Saradha group of companies allegedly duped lakhs of people to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore, promising higher rates of return on their investments.

