Suspended ED officer Manoj Kumar surrenders, sent to police remand

Suspended Enforcement Directorate officer Manoj Kumar on Wednesday surrendered before a court which sent him to police custody till May 12 in connection with an extortion case that brought out his purported closeness with the wife of the scam-tainted Rose Valley Chit Fund owner.

Kumar, who earlier headed the Rose Valley scam probe, gave himself up before the fifth Special Judge, Bankshall Court, Debabrata Sinha, who rejected his bail plea and sent him to police custody for 10 days for alleged extortion, criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had thrown out Kumar's petition for anticipatory bail and directed him to surrender within a week.

Following a complaint by a city-based businessman Kamal Somani that Kumar had aided in extortions from him, police conducted a probe and found a laptop suspected to be owned by Kumar containing important information related to the Rose Valley scam investigation,

The ED Assistant Director was placed under suspension and removed from the Rose Valley scam probe after the Kolkata police stumbled upon a CCTV footage that showed Kumar and Rose Valley owner Gautam Kundu's wife Subhra Kundu at a Delhi hotel and the check-in counter of the Kolkata airport.

--IANS

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