CBI seeks nod to quiz 4 IPS officers in Saradha case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) wants to interrogate three serving and one retired IPS officer in Bengal in connection with the Rs 2,460 Saradha Group chit fund scam.

On Monday, the investigative agency sent an email to the state police director general, Virendra a couple of days back seeking green signal for interrogating these four police officers.

The four police officers that CBI seeks to interrogate include the Kolkata police commissioner, Rajeev Kumar, additional commissioner (I) of Kolkata Police, Vineet Kumar Goyal, inspector general (rail), Tamal Basu and retired IPS officer, Pallab Kanti Ghosh. However, CBI officers, speaking on conditions of anonymity, said they did not receive any response to their request. None of the IPS officers turned up for questioning. The move may be politically significant since it comes in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. The Saradha scam is one of the politically sensitive scams in the state since a few prominent leaders of ruling Trinamool Congress such as former minister Madan Mitra, former Rajya Sabha MPs Kunal Ghosh, Srinjoy Bose, party vice president Rajat Majumdar were allegedly involved in it.

Trinamool leaders were tight-lipped. “Only the chief minister can speak on this issue,” said a minister, who did not wish to be named. BJP’s general secretary in West Bengal, Sayantan Basu said that if the police officers have nothing to hide, they should not avoid interrogation. “As police officers they should cooperate in any investigation to reveal the culprits and beneficiaries of a scam of such magnitude,” he said.

Leader of the Left parties in Bengal Assembly, Sujan Chakrabarty said that since the CBI enquiry is following a Supreme Court order, it is the duty of every one to cooperate in the investigation. All the four officers were members of the SIT formed by the Bengal government to probe the scam.

(With PTI inputs)