The Supreme Court will hear the CBI plea against Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar on Tuesday, even as the stand-off between the CBI and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee enters Day 3.
The Indian Express reports that a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna will hear the plea at 10:30 am.
The CBI plea had alleged destruction of electronic evidence related to the Saradha chit fund scam case by the Kolkata Police commissioner.
The probe agency’s applications also alleged that an extraordinary situation has arisen in which the top police officials of the West Bengal Police are sitting on a dharna along with a political party in Kolkata.
The applications accusing Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar of destroying evidence related to the case and indulging in contempt of court were mentioned by Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta before a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjeev Khanna on Monday.
Taking strong note of Mehta’s submission, the bench said “if the police commissioner is even remotely trying to destroy evidence, we will come down so heavily on him that he will regret”.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been sitting on a dharna since 8.30 pm Sunday. On Monday she described her sit-in over the CBI’s attempt to question Kolkata Police chief as a “non-political” protest.
The SG alleged that on Sunday night, CBI officers were taken into custody by the West Bengal Police when they had gone to the Kolkata police commissioner’s residence for evidence in connection with the probe in the Saradha scam.
Mehta said not only were the sleuths arrested, but the residence of Joint Director (East) Pankaj Shrivastav was surrounded by the state police and his family was kept hostage.
(With PTI inputs)