KOLKATA: With the Supreme Court likely to start hearing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on why former Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar needs to be taken into custody for interrogation any time soon, Kumar's decision to go on 21 days earned leave from March 16 has certainly raised a few eyebrows.
Kumar was principal secretary, IT and electronics department, government of West Bengal, when he proceeded on leave.
The CBI seeks custodial interrogation of Kumar in the nearly Rs 2,500 crore Saradha Ponzi scam. The agency has been claiming that the senior IPS officer destroyed vital evidence pertaining to the case when he headed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) against the Ponzi firm.
The Calcutta high court refused to grant the CBI permission to arrest Kumar after which the agency moved the Supreme Court. In February this year, the Apex Court indicated that the matter is likely to come up for hearing in two weeks time.
On March 23, nearly a week after Kumar went on leave, state additional chief secretary BP Gopalika issued a notification, approving his earned leave and appointing Vandana Yadav, secretary, Industry, Commerce & Enterprise Department, Government of West Bengal, to assume additional charge as principal secretary, IT and Electronics Department, Government of West Bengal, till Kumar returns from leave or until further orders.
"People need not see too much into this. He is entitled to earned leave and has opted for it. Since the department he headed is a very important one, the government has put somebody else in charge. This is normal procedure," a senior official from the state's Personnel & Administrative Reforms Department that issued the notification said.
Others have, however, pointed to Union home minister Amit Shah's interview to a vernacular news channel in Kolkata recently where he specifically named Kumar for allegedly destroying evidence pertaining to the Saradha scam in which several top-ranking politicians were purportedly involved.
Shah's statement could be an indication that the CBI is tightening the screws, a senior bureaucrat said. With assembly elections on in West Bengal, any order by the Supreme Court can tilt the balance, he added.