Cops summon Manoj Kumar in extortion case

The Kolkata Police on Friday summoned the former assistant director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an extortion case that was lodged against him by a chartered accountant at the Shakespeare Sarani police station.

The complaint against Manoj Kumar was lodged at Shakespeare Sarani police station and he has been asked to turn up at the police station by next week. A notice summoning him has already been sent.

The Kolkata Police had questioned him quite a few number of times earlier in connection with his alleged involvement in the hawala racket along with the estranged wife of Rose valley Group Chief, Subhra Kundu. Kumar had, however, managed to escape and he never turned up before the police for interrogation.

Kumar had pleaded before the Calcutta high court for anticipatory bail in connection with the extortion that was lodged by the chartered accountant. The court rejected the bail plea on Wednesday.

Sources said that the police have already prepared a list containing questions that they would be asking to the former ED officer. The police had already questioned another accused of the case Pradip Hirawat, who was arrested on March 1 in this connection.

The complainant, Kamal Somani, had lodged the complaint alleging that a team led by Kumar had conducted a raid in his office on May 12. Subsequently, Pradip started calling him for extortion money and took money by taking the name of Kumar. Based on the complaint, the police initiated a case under the sections of Prevention of Corruption Act and began to probe into the role of Kumar in this connection.

It is learnt that the police came to know in their preliminary investigation that Pradip, who used to run a travel agency, had bought air tickets and booked hotels for Kumar and Subhra when they went out. Though Kumar had earlier claimed that Subhra was taken to Delhi for the purpose of interrogation, the police want to know why the air tickets and hotels were booked by Pradip when it was supposed to be done by the ED.