A Delhi court on Tuesday sent Central Bureau of Investigation Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar to judicial custody for 14 days, PTI reported. Kumar was arrested on October 22 in connection with a bribery case. His seven-day CBI custody expired on Tuesday.
Manoj Prasad, an alleged middleman in the case, was also sent to judicial custody for 14 days. The court sent Kumar and Prasad to jail after the CBI said they were no longer needed for custodial interrogation. The court will hear Kumar’s bail plea on Wednesday.
Kumar’s lawyer told the court on Tuesday that the agency was tampering with and fabricating evidence. He said a case of theft and extortion should be filed against CBI officials investigating the case. He alleged that the officials seized eight mobile phones, an iPad and his son’s laptop, but recorded only one mobile phone in the seizure memo.
The investigating officer of the case, Satish Dagar, told the court that he took over the inquiry recently and observed that there were other items with the CBI apart from those mentioned in the seizure memo. They had been seized for the purpose of retrieving data, he said.
Prasad also moved a bail application. The court asked for the CBI’s response to both bail applications.
Kumar has been accused of forging the statement of businessman Sathish Sana, a key witness in the bribery case involving CBI official Rakesh Asthana. Special Director Asthana was sent on leave last week along with Director Alok Verma after they accused each other of corruption.
Sana had allegedly paid bribes to get relief in the case. Asthana is accused of accepting a Rs 2-crore bribe from him to scuttle an investigation into businessman Moin Qureshi, who is an accused in multiple corruption cases.
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