Court grants bail to suspended CBI DSP

New Delhi, Oct 31 (IANS) A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to suspended Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar, who is accused of falsifying records of a corruption case involving the agency's Special Director Rakesh Asthana.

Special Judge Santosh Snehi Mann granted the relief to Kumar and asked him to furnish a personal bond and a surety of Rs 50,000 each.

The court observed that after registration of the FIR, nothing incriminating came up or surfaced during the investigation against Kumar.

The court also directed Kumar to join investigation as and when called by the CBI, and not to contact the witnesses or tamper with evidence.

Kumar, through his counsel Rahul Tyagi, told the court that there was no allegation in the FIR about demand of illegal gratification by him or about receiving any illegal gratification from the complainant.

The defence counsel argued that registration of the FIR and arrest of Kumar had been done in violation of the standard procedures laid down in the CBI Manual for the investigation of cases involving complaints against CBI officials.

The CBI countered these arguments, saying that prompt action was required due to the nature of allegations in the complaint. The CBI also told the court that there was no violation of any law or procedure with respect to registration of FIR and arrest of the accused.

Kumar was arrested last week on charges of falsification of records while probing allegations against meat exporter Moin Qureshi and was remanded to CBI custody till October 30.

Kumar was an Investigating Officer in a case against Qureshi, who is facing multiple cases of money laundering and corruption.

The CBI alleged that bribes were taken at least five times between December 2017 and October this year.

Asthana, a 1984-batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, is accused of accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore from a Hyderabad-based businessman Sana Sathish Babu, who was under probe in the Qureshi case in a bid to "wreck" the investigation.

The case was being examined by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Asthana.