New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday, while agreeing to hear on Tuesday the CBI’s application orally, observed that it would “come down heavily” on the Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar if there is material to show that he was destroying electronic evidence in the Saradha scam probe.
When Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta pressed for an urgent hearing at 2 pm on Monday itself, CJI Ranjan Gogoi said, “We have gone through your application. There is nothing in it remotely suggesting that you have apprehensions of evidence being destroyed. If you had some material evidence that the commissioner of police was even remotely thinking of destroying evidence, we will come down so heavily on him, he will regret it.”
The CBI filed two applications seeking contempt action against the state government and direction to the police commissioner to “surrender” and extend all cooperation to the investigating agency.
The bench said during the interregnum it will be open for the SG or any other party to lay before the court any material or evidence to show that any West Bengal authority or police official is planning or trying to destroy evidence related to the case.
At the outset, Mr Mehta, appearing for the CBI, called Mr Kumar as a “potential accused”, which is contrary to the CBI’s official claim that it wants to question the police chief as a witness. He said that an “extraordinary situation” has unfolded in WB where CBI officers had been held captive by the local police.
