IAS officer gets bail in crematorium case - Kiran Kumar unlikely to walk free as other SJDA cases are pending investigation

G Kiran Kumar

TT, Siliguri, Aug. 17: A special court in Darjeeling today granted bail to IAS officer G. Kirankumar in the Mainaguri electrical crematorium case.

The CID had filed the chargesheet, accusing him and 15 others of misappropriating over Rs 60 crore of the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority.

The investigating agency had arrested Kiran Kumar on July 15.

The Mainaguri crematorium case is one of eight SJDA cases in which Kiran Kumar has been accused. As the IAS officer has not got bail in the other cases - investigation is on - he is unlikely to be released.

"The additional district and sessions first court here in Darjeeling heard the petition filed by Kiran Kumar's lawyers. We had objected to the petition and made our submission," said Pranay Rai, the assistant public prosecutor, over phone from Darjeeling. "After hearing both sides, the court has granted bail on certain conditions."

Avrojyoti Das, the lawyer representing Kiran Kumar, also confirmed that his client had been granted bail in the Mainaguri case.

"The special court has put a number of conditions. My client needs to make a fixed deposit of Rs 50,000 with court, submit a bail bond of Rs 10,000 and surrender his passport. The court has also ordered that the Union ministry of external affairs should be informed about the case so that he cannot obtain a duplicate passport," Das said.

According to court sources in Siliguri, nine cases have been registered on the basis of the complaints filed by officials of SJDA.

"Out of these cases, Kiran Kumar has been arrested in eight. He had secured bail in one of the cases back in December 2013 when he was in custody for 23 hours. Today, he got bail in another case. As the CID has shown him as arrested in six other cases, six bail petitions have been moved," the sources said. "He has got bail in the Mainaguri crematorium case but needs to get bail for the other six cases. Till then, he will continue to be behind bars."

In Siliguri, Kiran Kumar was produced in the ACJM Court. He was produced on August 3 and was in judicial custody for 14 days.

"The court heard the bail petitions and rejected them. He was sent to judicial custody for 14 days and would be produced on August 31," Sudip Roy Basunia, the assistant public prosecutor in Siliguri, said.

Meanwhile, Akhil Biswas, a Siliguri-based lawyer, has filed a petition at the ACJM court here today, questioning the investigation of CID.

"We have found that the CID has shown him as arrested in six other cases but has never sought his custody for any of these cases so that important information about his involvement in these cases where public money has been misappropriated could be found. This is why we have filed the petition before the court, requesting to direct investigation by an alternative agency," Biswas said.