CBI Likely to Question Saradha Chief Sudipta Sen Alongside Kolkata Police Chief Rajeev Kumar

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to question Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar for “three to four more days” and is also likely to send notices to Saradha Group promoter Sudipta Sen and his second-in-command Debjani Mukherjee, said sources.

Kumar’s interrogation is going to continue for the third consecutive day on Monday while the Home Minister has directed the West Bengal government to start departmental proceedings against five top IPS officers for purportedly flouting rules and sitting at the protest alongside West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

Meanwhile, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee – who sat on dharna in protest against the CBI in Kolkata – will be in the capital in Delhi. The TMC chief will join forces with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu to hold a protest against the centre at Jantar Mantar.

In all this, the CBI’s focus has been on attempting to recover key evidence that they suspect was destroyed or hidden by the state police. Earlier, News18.com had reported that the agency was looking for CCTV footage that might help them in pinpointing “influential persons” involved in the scam, said sources.

Sources in the CBI said that during the interrogation, Kumar denied all allegations of tampering with evidence and also maintained that “the incidents outside his house” when the CBI was allegedly roughed up by officers of the West Bengal police “had nothing to do with him”.

The CBI, sources said, is likely to send notices to Sen and Debjani Mukherjee and bring them into the interrogation. “Kumar has said that he has no idea about the missing evidence and has shifted the blame elsewhere. This is exactly what other officers questioned in the past have also done,” said a CBI source.

The source added, “We will be bringing Sen and Mukherjee into the investigation and sit them across each other and continue the investigation.”

Kumar, meanwhile, had asked the CBI on Saturday to conclude the interrogation by Monday and cited the need to be in Kolkata by Monday, said sources. The CBI, at the time, had not responded to his demands.

Kolkata police refused to comment.