Coimbatore: Pramod Kumar, a senior IPS officer of Tamil Nadu, arrested for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy to get a bribe of nearly Rs 10 crore from a private firm accused of duping general public of Rs 829 crore, was today remanded to CBI custody for five days.
Kumar, presently Inspector General, Armed forces and on medical leave, was arrested in Delhi yesterday. He was produced before a judge here who sent him to a transit remand.
He was brought here this morning and produced before CBI court judge Ramaswamy.
Earlier, CBI had sought his custody, which Kumar`s counsel opposed, saying there was no need for it as the agency had already questioned him for over seven hours.
The counsel also pleaded that Kumar be lodged in prison in Chennai and not in Coimbatore as he is facing `some threat`.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, the judge remanded Kumar to CBI custody for five days.
Meanwhile Kumar was taken to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital before being brought to court after complaining of not feeling well. He underwent a series of tests and was later brought to court.
Kumar(46), a 1989-batch IPS officer, has been on the run for many months. His anticipatory bail plea was rejected by Madras High Court on April 20.
The case was first cracked by Crime Branch of Tamil Nadu Police when they arrested an inspector who had allegedly carried the bribe money for Kumar.
The case was handed over to CBI on orders of Madras High Court after which the agency filed two cases. The first was against directors of Pazee Forex K Mohanraj, Kathiravan and A Kamalavalli for allegedly cheating investors of Rs 829 crore of promised returns and dividends.
The second case arose after Kamalavalli allegedly went missing on Dec 8, 2009 alleging harassment by police.
CBI sources had said the probe revealed that Pramod Kumar, then IG (West Zone) had allegedly demanded Rs 10 crore from the accused directors through the Investigating officer who is claimed to have been handpicked by him.
PTI
