SC withdraws protection to ex-Kolkata Police Commissioner

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday withdrew its interim order protecting former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar from arrest, allowing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to “act in accordance with the law”.Kumar’s protection from arrest will be withdrawn after seven days, after which the CBI will be at freedom to take him into custody. The seven days’ time, reported LiveLaw, is so that Kumar can approach the “appropriate forum in accordance with law,” to seek further protection.The matter raises “very serious issues”, said Justice Sanjiv Khanna while reading out the operative part of the judgment.

Kumar had been embroiled in a controversy for being at loggerheads with the CBI over its investigations into the Saradha chit fund and Rose Valley scams. The CBI has been eager to challenge the protection. “If a person has additional protection at times he or she doesn’t reveal things. It would be better if we question him in our custody,” a senior CBI official had told PTI. On 13 February, Kumar had been questioned by the CBI in Shillong following a Supreme Court directive on 5 February asking him to cooperate in the investigation.