Kolkata police chief contacting witnesses, says Kunal Ghosh; Demands strong action against Kumar

Shillong/Kolkata, Feb 12: In a serious against Rajeev Kumar, who is being questioned by the CBI in connection with chit fund scams, former TMC MP Kunal Ghosh on Tuesday said that the Kolkata Police Commissioner is communicating with people who can be "significant witness" in the case.

Kunal Ghosh, along with Rajeev Kumar, were in Shillong for questioning by the CBI in the Saradha chit fund scam. The CBI questioned Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar and former Kunal Ghosh by making them sit face to face at the probe agency's office in Shillong on Sunday.

"I have cooperated with investigation from very first day. I had been summoned by CBI to their Shillong office, I went there and cooperated in the investigation. As a part of the investigation I had to participate in a joint interrogation with Rajeev Kumar...Today I filed complaint to CBI that after first day of joint interrogation some names were there who can be significant witness. That night, on 10 Feb, after returning from CBI office in Shillong to guest house Mr Kumar communicated with those persons," Ghosh told the media today (February 12).

"I have appealed that there may be some influence, pressure or new chemistry. So I objected very strongly that this is not to be done. I prayed before CBI that they should take strongest action against Rajeev Kumar," he added.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Kunal Ghosh also said the CBI should have questioned Rajeev Kumar long ago.

Kunal Ghosh said, a lot of precious time has been lost as neither the CBI nor the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has taken any appropriate step earlier.
"Neither the CBI nor any other investigating agency is above criticism. But it will not be wise to bring up those issues and create hurdles in the path of investigation of such a huge scam. The CBI should be allowed to perform its duty," Kunal Ghosh said in the post.

Ghosh, whose two-day questioning ended on Monday, demanded that he should jointly be interrogated with BJP) leader Mukul Roy as it might be helpful for the CBI.

Kunal Ghosh was arrested by the SIT in November 2013 when he was a Rajya Sabha MP of the TMC. He was granted bail in 2016. Kunal Ghosh had said he will cooperate with the investigation and wants the truth to come out.

The Kolkata police chief was quizzed for nearly nine hours on Saturday by three senior CBI officers about his alleged role in tampering of crucial evidence in the case. Kumar had led the special investigation team (SIT) formed by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to probe the Saradha scam before the case was handed over to the CBI by the apex court.

The CBI had moved the Supreme Court after its officials were thwarted by the Kolkata Police when they had gone to Kumar's official residence in Kolkata to question him on February 3. Banerjee had rushed to the spot and had staged a three-day 'Save the Constitution' sit-in against the CBI move and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah of plotting a "coup".
The central investigating agency had said that its officials had wanted to question Kumar to plug the holes in the Saradha investigation case as he was supposed to be in possession of certain key documents as a member of the SIT.