On board flight AI 9712 (Shillong to Kolkata): Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar and the seven CBI interrogators, who spent 34 hours spread over five days closeted in a room at the agency’s Shillong office, spent one hour and 40 minutes more on an Air India flight taking them back to Kolkata on Wednesday. Several rows of seats separated them, but the awkward silence and the total lack of any interaction suggested that the gulf between the two agencies — one reporting to the Centre and the other to the state government — was much more than the few feet that separated the two groups.At 4.05pm, when Kumar boarded the Air India flight from Shillong, he found the CBI officers, including the DSP probing the Rose Valley case, seated in two different rows at the rear. Not a word was exchanged between the two sides as Kumar and his men took the seats in front. Additional CP Jawed Shamim, DCP Murlidhar Sharma and three STF officers were travelling with Kumar.The awkward silence was broken only after the flight landed in Kolkata, Kumar’s turf. As the CBI officers waited in the bus after getting off the flight, Kumar and his team walked in. It was then that Kumar acknowledged the presence of the senior-most officers of CBI. A few words and pleasantries were exchanged.A formal goodbye followed as the CBI officers came out of the airport. The CBI team headed straight to the CGO Complex, and the CP was greeted by senior Kolkata Police officers.The CBI officers had no clue that Kumar was travelling with them from Shillong until they were at the boarding gate. “Is he travelling with us?” asked one officer. The CBI team had arrived late at the airport and by then, Kumar was in the VIP lounge. The CBI team was the first to board the plane.The seating arrangement brought no further embarrassment to either side, as the CBI officers were given rear seats. Kumar occupied the first seat, while several rows of seats in the middle were unoccupied.The sporadic conversation on the flight was mainly between Shamim and Sharma, though the CP did join in at times. The three even discussed the day’s news items. Kumar sat alone on seat 1B; Sharma and Shamim sat together in the adjoining row. One of the front page news items in discussion even among the CBI officers was the appointment of Rina Mitra as the principal adviser (internal security) by the state government. Mitra was in the reckoning for the top CBI slot and retired last month as special secretary (internal security) in the MHA.The CBI officers also talked about a series of meetings ahead, in Delhi and Kolkata, that will decide the roadmap after going through Kumar’s statements. “This is a long-drawn process. The next round will unfold in Delhi next week,” an officer said.Kumar himself will have several things on his mind. He will have to prepare a reply to a Supreme Court contempt notice as well as clear work pending for the change of guard at Lalbazar, acording to the Election Commission’s directives.

Stay updated with all the Kolkata Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.