Ex-top cop Rajeev Kumar appears before court, gets bail

After being untraceable for nearly three weeks, former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Thursday surrendered before the Alipore Court which granted him bail. The bail was granted as per an earlier Calcutta High Court order which granted anticipatory bail to Kumar in relation to the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.

“Kumar surrendered before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Subrata Mukherjee as per the Calcutta High Court order,” Kumar’s lawyer Gopal Haldar said. Kumar was granted bail on two sureties of Rs. 50000 each.

However, despite being repeatedly asked by journalists about the day’s development Kumar, currently the Additional Director General of West Bengal CID, refused to comment.

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday stated that if arrested by the CBI, Kumar has to be immediately released on bail by an appropriate court. A division bench of the High Court observed that Kumar has cooperated with the CBI and it was not an appropriate case for custodial interrogation.

CBI officials conducted search operations in several places in and around Kolkata to trace the senior IPS officer. Kumar could not be traced after a single bench of the Calcutta High Court on September 13 withdrew the protection earlier granted to him against arrest by CBI in relation to the Saradha chit fund scam. During this time Kumar did not appear before CBI for questioning despite multiple summons by the Central agency.

Kumar was part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which investigated the Saradha chit fund scam before it was handed over to CBI in 2014 as per a Supreme Court order.