The Patiala House Court in Delhi on Wednesday granted bail to Central Bureau of Investigation’s Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar, ANI reported. The court asked him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and surety of the same amount.
Kumar, who was arrested by the CBI on October 22 in connection with a bribery case involving the agency’s special director, Rakesh Asthana, was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days on Tuesday.
The court had earlier in the day reserved its order on Kumar’s bail petition. The CBI did not oppose his bail petition, PTI reported.
During the hearing, Kumar’s lawyer said that the CBI had violated every rule while arresting him, and claimed that the irony was that the person who followed the rule is in jail.
In his bail application, Kumar urged the court to free him, saying his custody under the CBI was illegal. The petition said the CBI officers who arrested him did not have valid search warrants when they raided his office and home.
On Tuesday, Kumar’s lawyer told the court 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.
Kumar is accused of forging the statement of businessman Sathish Sana, a key witness in the bribery case involving Asthana. 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 a corruption 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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