New Delhi, April 2
The CBI is to question Special Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Rakesh Kumar for his alleged role in human trafficking to Berlin in September 2005 and was contemplating filing another case of possession of disproportionate assets against him.
In a related development, six of the nine people had been traced in Berlin and were being deported while three others were still absconding.
CBI sources said Kumar, a 1972- batch IFS officer who was asked to cut short his visit to South America following the CBI raids at his residence on March 29, would be quizzed by the sleuths of the agency's Special Crime Branch for his alleged liaison with Shiv Kumar Sharma of Ludhiana.
Sharma allegedly acted as a conduit and took money in lakhs of rupees for sending people abroad.
The modus operandi adopted by the accused was to send people to Berlin along with a dance troupe. On arrival, these people disappeared and later filed applications for political asylum under changed names.
The case in which Sharma and Kumar, who was the then Director- General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), along with Programme Officer of the ICCR Kehkashan Tyagi and another person, Har Gulab Singh, have been booked pertains to sending 15-member Punjabi folk troupe "Mehak Punjab Di" to Berlin in
September 2005 out of which nine disappeared upon their arrival.
e CBI sources said Kumar would also have to explain about the cash of over Rs four lakh recovered from his residence during the CBI raids on March 29 besides the heavy
investments made by him in the real estate, shares and bonds.They said the documents pertaining to these were being examined and an opinion of the Prosecution Directorate had been sought of whether to file a fresh case.
There was no need of taking a fresh sanction for registering a case against Kumar as it had already been sought before filing an FIR and carrying out raids at his place, the sources said.
As per the amended Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, the CBI has to seek sanction from appropriate authority even before beginning an enquiry or carrying out raids.
The CBI had filed an FIR against all the four under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 403 (dishonest misappropriation), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of Indian Penal Code and 13(i)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act.— PTI
