Calcutta High Court has asked police commissioner Rajeev Kumar to appear before it on July 15 and explain the "position" of an investigation into a narcotics case in which an officer appeared to have spent government funds on visiting three cities only for "touring".

The case had started following the arrest of Rajeev Mohta, a city-based businessman, from south Calcutta in 2012 in connection with a narcotics racket. The police have been trying to track down three people Mohta had named in his statement.

Justice Siddhartha Chattopadhyay of the high court asked the police commissioner to appear before the court on Tuesday while hearing a case filed by Mohta in 2013 seeking an order for striking his name off the list of accused.

The order passed after Tuesday's hearing was signed and made available on the high court website on Thursday.

Justice Chattopadhyay observed: "It appears that Mr (Shiladitya) Sarma (the investigating officer of the case) went to Bombay, Delhi and Hyderabad and asked the respective Joint Commissioners of Police of those cities whether the names of the accused persons such as Donald, Hamberg and Charles mentioned in the statement under Section 161 Criminal Procedure Code exist in their record or not. Rajeev Mohta specifically stated under Section 161 CrPC that he knows the hideout of that persons, namely, Donald, Hamberg and Charles."

The order also added: "It is not clear why he (Sarma) had gone to Bombay, Delhi and Hyderabad and drawn the attention of Joint Police Commissioners of those cities without ascertaining the address from Rajeev Mohta. It seems to me that he utilised the government money only for his touring purpose."

Justice Chattopadhyay in his order said: "I direct the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, who is a great detective, to appear in person on July 15, 2016 and to explain the position after ascertaining it from Shiladitya Sarma, who has tried his level best to shield the proposed accused persons, and to give a clean-chit to his former S.I., Sadhan Mondal, who has been suspended."

The court directed the top cop "to take necessary action" against sub-inspector Sarma and engage "another competent officer" to carry on the probe. Kumar was asked to intimate the court about the action taken against the sub-inspector.

Kumar was also asked to submit a report regarding the departmental proceedings that had been initiated against Mondal.

The case will come up for hearing again on July 15.