IAS officer shown as arrested in six other cases

Already in custody in connection with the nearly Rs.200 crore Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) scam, IAS officer Godala Kiran Kumar was on Monday shown as arrested in six other cases connected with the scandal.

The 2005 batch Indian Administrative Service officer was on July 15 arrested in two cases connected with the graft and sent to four-day CID custody by a court a day later.

Siliguri Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Debanjan Ghosh on Monday also rejected a bail plea moved by Kiran Kumar's counsel.

The Criminal Investigation Department lawyer said the IAS officer was arrested with regard to two out of eight cases registered in the scam so far, and showed him as arrested in the six other cases.

Kiran Kumar got bail in only one of the eight cases.

On hearing the arguments from both sides, the judge rejected the bail plea and sent him to 14-day judicial custody.

Kiran Kumar, who served as joint secretary (agriculture) of the West Bengal government before his arrest, is the prime accused in the scam, which pertains to alleged corruption in the purchase of three electric furnaces for crematorium, installation of Close Circuit TV in Siliguri town, execution fo sewerage treatment plant to check pollution in the Mahananda river and cleaning of Jorapani-Fuleswari river during his stint as SJDA CEO.

Kiran Kumar was earlier arrested in November 2013 in the case related to alleged siphoning of funds in the purchase of CCTV cameras. He was then the district magistrate of Malda. However, he was bailed out the very next day.

The then Siliguri police commissioner K. Jayaraman was removed by the Mamata Banerjee government for ordering the arrest without seeking prior permission from the state administration as well as not giving any prior intimation about the action.

Altogether 11 people, including SJDA officials and contractors, have been arrested so far for their alleged involvement in the scam.