Patna: Former SDPO of Kishanganj, Gautam Kumar, on Monday appeared at the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) office in Patna and was quizzed for nearly five hours in the presence of superintendent of oolice (economic offences) Rajesh Kumar.ADG of EOU, Nayyar Hasnain Khan, said during the interrogation, Gautam was asked about his relationships with those people whose names appeared in the course of investigation in the DA case linked to the former SDPO, and the nature of their communications. “He answered some questions and escaped others. Once we have better and more detailed information in hand, the next round of questioning will be more meaningful,” he said.Khan further told this reporter that since the investigating officer, ASP Indra Prakash, and his team are currently conducting asset verification and investigation in Kishanganj and Purnia districts, senior officers could not be present for the interrogation session on Monday. “The former SDPO has now been issued a fresh notice to appear again on Friday (April 10) for further questioning,” he said.Regarding the scale of the case, the ADG revealed that while the FIR mentions assets worth Rs1.9 crore, the actual disproportionate assets could be much higher. “If we are able to trace all the assets, it will be not less than Rs80-90 crore. It could be even more than that, including ‘benami’ properties,” he said.The EOU officials said investigations into 26 plots, the documents of which were seized during the raids, are underway and emphasised that the core focus of the probe is to trace the source of the funds, which is possibly from smugglers, local mafias and quid pro quo with wrongdoers.The case came into the limelight after the EOU registered an FIR against Gautam on March 29 accusing him of possessing disproportionate assets. On March 31, the EOU conducted simultaneous raids at six locations in Patna, Kishanganj, Purnia and Siliguri. During the raids, the team recovered incriminating documents related to multiple plots and properties, along with other important evidence, which is now being scrutinised as part of the ongoing investigation.
