Kolkata trader accuses CBI sleuths of kidnapping, assault

Kolkata -  Three officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who had come to city in pursuit of an old case, now face criminal charges including kidnapping and assault  after a city businessman filed a police complaint against them.

Sarvan Singh Cheema, a construction material supplier, in his complaint to the Shakespeare Sarani police station accused three CBI officers Mahendra Singh, S.L. Sharma and a deputy  superintendent of police, of assaulting him and forcing him to give a written undertaking.

"We have started a case against the three CBI officers under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including kidnapping," said Asim Kumar Kar, senior officer of Shakespeare  Sarani police station.

The incident happened May 9 when Cheema was picked by the CBI trio from Jawaharlal Nehru Road in the city and whisked away in a car to a building in Nizam Palace complex, where the  agency's Kolkata office is located.

The sleuths had come to the city looking for Arjun Singh, the prime accused in the murder of Indian Revenue Service officer S.N. Dasgupta in Jaipur in 1979.

Arjun is Cheema's brother-in-law. The CBI sleuths suspected that Cheema had been giving shelter to Arjun and knew about his whereabouts.

"Around 1.30 p.m., three CBI officers, Mahinder Singh, S.L. Sharma and a deputy superintendent of police, abducted me in front of Everest House on Jawaharlal Nehru Road and forcibly took

me to a building in Nizam Palace," Cheema told IANS.

"There, they abused and beat me mercilessly with wooden batons. They were asking me about Arjun's whereabouts," Cheema said.

He was also taken to his residence in Sonarpur, where the sleuths allegedly ransacked his house.

"From my home, I was taken to Sonarpur police station, where they forced me to write an undertaking promising that I would find Arjun and hand him over to the CBI. If I failed to do this within

a month, I would have to pay them Rs.1.5 lakh," Cheema added.

Cheema, who said he was not aware either about Arjun's whereabouts or his involvement in the murder case, claimed of getting threatening calls from the CBI officers.