CBI DSP Devender Kumar granted bail on personal bond of Rs 50,000

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NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to CBI DSP Devender Kumar on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and one surety in the like amount.

Special CBI Judge Santosh Snehi Mann granted the relief to Kumar who was arrested in connection with bribery allegations involving the CBI's Special Director Rakesh Asthana. 

Kumar had filed a bail application where he mentioned that his custody was "illegal" and urged the court to set him free. The application also said Kumar was ready to abide by the conditions imposed by the court while granting him bail.

Kumar and Asthana have already challenged the legality of the FIR filed against them. Besides them, two alleged middlemen -- Manoj Prasad and Somesh Prasad -- have also been named as accused in the case.

The agency had earlier told the court that Kumar had tried to fabricate evidence during the investigation in another case. Kumar had claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case and that he was a victim of rivalry among the senior officers of the central probe agency. He had said he was investigating a case against meat exporter Moin Qureshi, in which the complainant in the present case -- Sathish Babu Sana -- was a suspect and the names of some past and present senior CBI officers had surfaced.

Kumar had claimed that his arrest in the present case was motivated to stall the investigation in the case against Qureshi and that there was no direct allegation against him. If convicted, the accused may get a maximum 10-year jail term in the case. The FIR in the current case was lodged on the basis of a written complaint from Sana on October 15, wherein it was alleged that Kumar, being the IO in the case against Qureshi, was repeatedly calling the complainant to the CBI office to harass him and compel him to pay a bribe of Rs 5 crore for getting a clean chit in the case.

The complaint had also said a part of the bribe was paid by Sana. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Central Bureau of Additional SP SS Gurm moved to Delhi High Court seeking to be heard in Special Director Rakesh Asthana's petition to quash FIR against him.

Gurm was one of the top probing officers transferred a day after the two sparring bosses – Asthana and agency chief Alok Verma – were sent on leave and CBI Joint Director Nageshwar Rao was appointed as the interim chief.

In his plea before HC, Gurm claimed Asthana is "misleading" the court.

Asthana along with DSP Devender Kumar was named in FIR on the basis of a written complaint from businessman Satish Sana. They were accused of bribery charges in the case against meat exporter Moin Qureshi.

The Delhi HC on Monday extended the interim protection from arrest to Asthana and ordered to maintain status quo in the proceedings against him in the alleged bribery case.

The high court also granted more time to the CBI to file counter replies on pleas of Asthana and Kumar seeking quashing of FIR lodged by the probe agency in the case.

Asthana, who has recently been sent on leave by the government, has been charged with extortion and forgery in addition to the bribery and corruption charges.

(With Agency Inputs)