Court grants bail to suspended ED officer Manoj Kumar

Manoj Kumar, the former assistant director of Enforcement Directorate (ED), was granted bail on Friday when he was produced before the Bankshall Court.

He was arrested on May 3 on charges of taking extortion money from a Chartered Accountant, who had lodged a complaint with Shakespeare Sarani police station.

Kumar got bail after 50 days of his arrest against a surety bond of Rs 40,000. He was also directed by the court to deposit his passport and he cannot move out of the city. He has also been directed to visit Shakespeare Sarani police station twice a week and to meet the Investigating Officer of the case. It may be recalled that Kamal Somani, a Chartered Accountant, had lodged a complaint with Shakespeare Sarani police station on February 28 raising allegations of extortion of money. He had alleged that one Pradeep Kumar Hirawat used to take money from him, taking the name of Kumar.

The police had initiated a case under sections of Prevention of Corruption Act after receiving Somani's complaint.

The CA had alleged that a team led by Manoj had conducted a raid in his office on May 12. A few days after the raid, Hirawat, who runs a travel agency at Burrabazar, started taking money from him by taking the name of Kumar.