Bengaluru, May 25 (DHNS): A day after senior police officer Alok Kumar was suspended from service for his suspected links with the kingpin of single-digit lottery racket, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials on Sunday grilled the senior IPS officer for nearly eight hours.
Kumar appeared before investigation officials at the Carlton House, the CID headquarters, after he was summoned for questioning. “The investigating officer questioned Kumar on various issues to ascertain his role in the scam. The interrogation went on for eight hours,” Deputy Inspector General of Police (CID) Hemanth Nimbalkar told Deccan Herald.
A questionnaire was given to Kumar after he reached the CID headquarters around 1 pm for the closed-door interrogation. There were various questions which focused on the nature of relationship between the kingpin of the racket Pari Rajan and Kumar, said a top source in CID.
“We questioned Kumar about who introduced him to Rajan. We also asked him why he considered Rajan a close friend. He was also grilled as to why he was not aware of Rajan’s illegal activities. The questions were also related to the number of visits made by Rajan to Kumar’s office and his visit to Rajan’s guesthouse. He was also asked about the expensive gifts presented to him by Rajan and his stay at Rajan’s guesthouse en route to Tirupati some six months ago,” a senior officer said.
Thoroughly quizzedKumar was thoroughly questioned about his presence at the parties hosted by Rajan at his guesthouse. He was quizzed for more than three hours mainly about his intervention in Rajan’s arrest. There were also questions about his repeated calls and Rajan’s presence at his chamber before the latter left for KGF to appear before the police, said the source.
Kumar was composed throughout the interrogation and claimed that he was innocent. He admitted that Rajan was his close friend and claimed that he was unaware of his illegal activities. He admitted that he spoke to the sub-inspector (Excise and Lottery Enforcement-KGF) Prakash, but claimed that he never directed Prakash not to act against Rajan. Kumar claimed that he told the SI not to look for Rajan as he would meet the SI soon, said the source.
The CID would continue the questioning on Monday. There were reports that suspended SP Dharanesh was also interrogated. “We questioned only Kumar and not Dharanesh on Sunday,” Nimbalkar added.
Meanwhile, there were reports that a list of 10 police inspectors, who are involved in the racket, will also be suspended shortly. The CID is learnt to have prepared notices to be served on senior officers directing them to appear for questioning. The interrogation of senior officers and retired officers will take place in a phased manner.