Kolkata CP Rajeev Kumar faces CBI interrogation in Shillong
Shillong, Feb 9 (IBNS): As directed by the Supreme Court following a huge political ruckus that saw West Bengal Chief Minister sitting on a dharna, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s officers have started interrogating Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar and recording his statement in connection with its ongoing probe into a chit fund case, officials said.
Responding to a CBI summon, Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar on Saturday morning reached the premise of the central probe agency in Shillong's Oakland area to face the interrogation.
Rajeev Kumar along with his counsel and two senior IPS officials of the Kolkata Police force, Javed Shamim and Murli Dhar Sharma, arrived in Shillong on Friday evening and spent the night at Tripura Castle bungalow at Cleve Colony.
Amid heavy security arrangements, Kumar and his team reached the CBI office, in the morning.
Sources in the CBI said that a special team of the probe agency had begun interrogating Kumar at around 11:30 am.
"Officers of the special team arrived at Guwahati airport earlier this morning and they came to Shillong office by road," a CBI official told IBNS.
"The quiz has already begun and the two-phase interrogation as well as statement recording process is likely to take hours," the officer added.
Meghalaya Police have arranged a tight security at the CBI premise in Shillong's posh Oakland area and several security teams have been deployed to the probe agency's office.
After getting Supreme Court's nod to question Rajeev Kumar in chit fund probe, CBI on Thursday sent a fresh notice to the senior IPS officer asking him to appear before its investigators at Shillong office on Saturday.
Earlier on Sunday, a face-off between the Kolkata Police and CBI began after the premier investigation agency's officers went to Rajeev Kumar's bungalow in south Kolkata's Loudon Street area as the CP skipped three previous summons and city cops manhandled CBI investigators and forcibly detained them.
Tripura Castle where Rajeev Kumar spent last night
Following the incident, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sat on a two-day 'political' dharna (sit-in-demonstration) and other leaders of the opposition-alliance either joined the dharna or expressed their support over phone.
Later, CBI went to the Supreme Court to get order to interrogate Rajeev Kumar and the apex court had directed the Kolkata commissioner to cooperate with the CBI and to appear before it in Shillong.
A three-justice bench of the Supreme Court also directed the CBI that it could not arrest Rajeev Kumar immediately.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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