Chennai:
Pramod Kumar, a senior police officer of Tamil Nadu, arrested for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy to get a bribe of nearly Rs 10 crore from a private firm, has been remanded to CBI custody for five days.
Mr Kumar, presently Inspector General (IG), Armed forces and on medical leave, was arrested in Delhi. He was produced before a judge who sent him to a transit remand.
He was produced before a CBI court Judge. Earlier, CBI had sought his custody, which Mr Kumar's counsel opposed saying that the agency had already questioned him for over seven hours.
The counsel also pleaded that Mr Kumar be lodged in prison in Chennai and not in Coimbatore as he is facing 'some threat'.
After hearing the arguments from both the sides, the Judge remanded Mr Kumar to CBI custody for five days.
Meanwhile Mr Kumar was taken to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital before being brought to the court after complaining ill health. He underwent a series of tests and was later brought to court.
Mr Kumar, a 1989-batch Indian Police Services (IPS) officer, has been on the run for many months. His anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Madras High Court on April 20.
The case was first cracked by Crime Branch of Tamil Nadu Police when they arrested an inspector who had allegedly carried the bribe money for Mr Kumar.
The case was handed over to the CBI on the orders of the Madras High Court after which the agency filed two cases. One against Directors of Pazee Forex for allegedly cheating investors of Rs 829 crore of promised returns and dividends.
The second case was filed after one of the directors allegedly went missing on December 8, 2009 citing harassment by police.
According to CBI sources the probe revealed that Mr Pramod Kumar, then IG (West Zone) had allegedly demanded Rs 10 crore from the accused directors through the investigating officer who is claimed to have been handpicked by him.