The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to appear before of the Central Bureau of Investigation and cooperate with the ongoing probe.
The order was passed by a three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. The bench, however, made it clear that no coercive action against the commissioner will be taken—including arrest.
The CBI had approached the top court after a standoff with the West Bengal government when it had gone to question the police commissioner. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had approached the court on Monday seeking cooperation from the state government as well as initiation of contempt proceedings against certain officials of the West Bengal government.
Attorney General for India KK Venugopal, who appeared for the central agency during the hearing, argued that evidence related to Sarada Chit Fund scam was being tampered with and the CBI team had gone to the police commissioner's house in relation to that. The AG said that the state's Special Investigation Team did not provide them with all the information, including some of the call records which were doctored.
Appearing for West Bengal Police, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that it was a method to harass the state government.
The top court also issued notice on the contempt plea filed by the CBI. The next date of hearing is Feb. 20.
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