Rajeev Kumar, ex-TMC MP appear before CBI for questioning in Shillong

Shillong: Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar and former Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh on Monday appeared before the CBI here for questioning in connection with investigations in chit fund cases.

This is the third day of his questioning by the central investigative agency.

Ghosh arrived at the CBI office here shortly after 10 am while Kumar reached an hour later, an official told PTI. On Sunday, the probe agency questioned Kumar separately and also along with Ghosh.

The marathon questioning of the two lasted over eight hours, he said. The former Trinamool Congress MP was arrested in 2013 in the Saradha ponzi scam and has been out on bail since 2016. The CBI is questioning the two in accordance with directions of the Supreme Court.

The Kolkata Police chief was quizzed for nearly nine hours on Saturday by three senior CBI officers about his alleged role in tampering of crucial evidence in the Saradha case, they said. He was also examined in the Rose Valley case on Sunday.

Kumar led the special investigation team (SIT) formed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to probe the Saradha scam before the case was handed over to the CBI by the apex court. Officials in Delhi said the CBI has not acceded to Kumar's demand to have his questioning session videographed. It is done only in cases of custodial interrogations, they said. Ghosh earlier implicated BJP leader Mukul Roy, who was once the right hand man of Banerjee, and 12 others in the Saradha scam.

The Supreme Court directed Kumar on Tuesday to appear before the CBI and "faithfully" cooperate in the investigation of cases arising out of the Saradha chit fund scam.

The court chose Shillong as a neutral meeting place "to avoid all unnecessary controversy" and made it clear that Kumar would not be arrested.

The CBI moved the Supreme Court after its officials were thwarted by the Kolkata Police when they had gone to Kumar's official residence in Kolkata to question him on February 3. Banerjee had rushed to the spot and staged a three-day 'Save the Constitution' sit-in against the CBI move, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah of plotting a "coup".