Rajeev Kumar's anticipatory bail plea to be heard Wednesday
KOLKATA: Senior IPS officer Rajeev Kumar, who is under the CBI scanner in the Saradha and Rose Valley ponzi scams, on Tuesday moved his anticipatory bail application before a division bench of the Calcutta High Court alleging that the federal probe agency was "hounding" him.
The bench of Justice S. Munshi and Justice S. Dasgupta scheduled the case for hearing on Wednesday.
Kumar's counsel pleaded for urgent hearing of the case arguing that his leave would end on Wednesday. Kumar has been on leave since September 9.
The counsel also submitted that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was "hounding" his client.
Justice Dasgupta, however, advised Kumar to surrender.
On Saturday, Kumar suffered the latest setback in his bid to secure pre-arrest bail when the Alipore District and Sessions Court rejected his plea. Kumar is locked in a legal tussle with the federal investigative agency which has been trying to interrogate him.
Four days back, the CBI had moved a plea for issuing non-bailable arrest warrant against Kumar in an Alipore court, which disposed off the prayer, saying the former Kolkata Police Commissioner could be arrested by the CBI in accordance with law if it feels that is needed.
On September 17, Kumar had moved an anticipatory bail plea in the District and Sessions Court of Barasat but the judge ruled the petition "not maintainable", saying the case had been generated in the South 24 Parganas district while his court has jurisdiction over North 24 Parganas district.
The Alipore court is the district court of South 24 Parganas.
The judiciary had earlier given Kumar interim protection on May 30 and then extended it multiple times till the Calcutta High Court withdrew the protection on September 13.
The CBI had, in May, sent a notice to Kumar, asking him to appear before it and later issued a lookout notice against him, alerting all airports and immigration authorities against him leaving the country.
Kumar had moved the court on May 22 seeking quashing of the CBI notice asking him to appear before the agency.
He appeared before the CBI in February and June and was grilled by the sleuths.
Kumar headed the special investigation team (SIT) in 2013 that probed the ponzi scams, and is accused of tampering with evidence.
The Supreme Court, in May 2014, handed over the case to the CBI.