Kolkata: Former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar skipped a meeting with CBI officials on Monday despite being summoned by the agency for questioning in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam, officials said.
Kumar, however, sent a letter to the agency, seeking some more time to appear before its officers in connection with the case.
A CID official visited the CBI office in Salt Lake and submitted the letter, in which Kumar said he is on a three-day leave and, therefore, unable to attend the summon.
Also Read: SC Dismisses Ex-Kolkata Police Chief’s Plea for Extension of Protection From Arrest
CBI sources said that officials were present at the Barasat court to prevent Kumar from taking any legal step to stop the agency from interrogating him.
The CBI had on Sunday summoned the IPS officer to the agency’s Salt Lake office on Monday after a team failed to meet him at his residence in connection with the Saradha probe.
Kumar has been reinstated as the additional director general of the CID on Sunday night by the West Bengal government after the model code of conduct was withdrawn.
On Saturday, the CBI also issued a lookout notice against Kumar to prevent him from leaving the country.
The agency wants to conduct a custodial interrogation of Kumar in connection with the chit fund scam as he was heading the police’s special investigation team which was probing the case, before the CBI took over.
Losses from the Ponzi scheme are over Rs 2,500 crore, after the Saradha group of companies duped lakhs of customers, promising higher rates of returns on their investment, the CBI had said.