NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to furnish evidence to prove that former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar was involved in the disappearance or suppression of crucial evidence in Saradha chit fund case.A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said the CBI has to place material which can even very remotely show that Kumar, who was earlier heading the West Bengal Police SIT probing the chit fund scam, has something to do with either destruction or disappearance of evidence related to the case.
“We have to be satisfied that you (CBI) are seeking this (custodial interrogation of Kumar) in bona fide interest of justice and not for political purposes,” the bench said.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, said he would file the evidence by Wednesday when the court will take up the hearing once again.
Mehta told the court that custodial interrogation of Kumar was necessary as he was not cooperating in the probe and he was evasive and arrogant in answering the queries put to him during his questioning by the CBI.He said Kumar was the in-charge of investigation by the SIT and had allowed the release of mobile phones and laptops, containing crucial records of alleged involvement of political functionaries in the scam, which were seized from the accused.
He said that the seized mobile phones and laptops were not even sent for forensic examination and material evidence were destroyed in the case.Mehta said that entire call detail records (CDRs) of certain phone numbers, which were provided to SIT by telephone service providers, was not shared with the CBI.
Earlier, a team of the CBI had been prevented from taking Rajeev Kumar into custody from Kolkata.