Rishi Kumar Shukla takes charge of CBI as director

Newlyappointed CBI chief Rishi Kumar Shukla took charge of the agency Monday when it finds itself locked in a dirty turf war with the Kolkata Police that spiraled into a political slugfest between the Centre and the West Bengal governmentNormally a new incumbent gets a weeks time to take charge but Shukla who was appointed on Saturday took the reins of the agency within two days in the backdrop of the agencys tussle with the Kolkata Police which broke out on Sunday officials saidThe appointment of the 58year old Shukla a 1983batch IPS from the Madhya Pradesh cadre as a fullfledged director is likely to bring some sort of order within the CBI which has moved the Supreme Court alleging destruction of evidence by Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in ponzi scam cases they saidKumar headed the special investigation team probing these cases the officials saidThe agency did not get any immediate relief from the Supreme Court in the matterThe Supreme Court however agreed to give an urgent hearing on Tuesday to applications moved by the CBI alleging destruction of electronic evidence related to the Saradha chit fund scam case by the Kolkata Police commissionerThe applications accusing Kumar of destroying evidence related to the case and him of indulging in contempt of court was mentioned by Solicitor General SG Tushar Mehta before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjeev KhannaTaking note of his submissions the bench said If at all the evidence is destroyed it is in electronic form and can be retrievedIt said even if the police commissioner is remotely trying to destroy evidence we will come down so heavily on him that he will regretFormer Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police Shukla who took charge of the agency as its 28th director from interim CBI chief M Nageswara Rao at the 11thfloor office in the imposing steel and glass CBI headquarters on Lodhi Road did not offer any immediate comments on the issueThe CBI team which had reached Kumars residence Sunday evening to apparently question him in connection with Saradha and Rose Valley scam cases was caught off guard when they were blocked by police personnel guarding the residence of their chief the officials saidAs the CBI team landed at the gates a team of Kolkata Police officers rushed to the spot to speak to the CBI officials and tried to enquire if they had the documents required for questioning the CommissionerLater on a small team of CBI officials was taken to Shakespeare Sarani police station for further discussionsThereafter more men arrived at the spot and a commotion ensued Some CBI officers were then forcibly bundled into police jeeps and taken to the police stationAccording to the CBI Kumar a 1989batch IPS officer of the West Bengal cadre who led a Special Investigation Team of West Bengal Police probing the scams needs to be questioned regarding missing documents and files but he has not responded to notices to appear before the agencyMeanwhile Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had started a dharna outside the residence of Kumar protesting against the alleged highhandedness of the Centre and insults meted out to her by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit ShahThe investigations in these cases have been expedited in the runup to the general elections with the agency recently questioning a close aide of Banerjee at his residenceCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get the latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever