Kerala High Court grants anticipatory bail plea to ED officer accused of demanding ₹2 crore bribe

The Kerala High Court on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer Shekhar Kumar who in a corruption case [Shekhar Kumar v. State of Kerala].

Kumar, who is posted as the Assistant Director with the Enforcement Directorate in Kochi, is accused of having demanded a bribe of ₹2 crores from a businessman.

Justice A Badharudeen passed the order granting anticipatory bail.

Kumar was arrayed as the first accused in a case registered recently by the Ernakulam unit of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB).

He was booked for bribery under section 7(a) of Prevention of Corruption Act and for criminal conspiracy under 61(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The case was registered after a man who introduced himself as an ED agent was apprehended while accepting a bribe of ₹2 lakhs from a businessman named Aneesh Babu. Babu and his cashew trading business were being investigated by the ED.

In his complaint before the VACB, Babu alleged that ₹2 crores was demanded as a bribe to let him off in the case.

Three other persons were also arrayed as accused in the case. They were arrested but released on bail last week by a Vigilance Court which noted that the three accused had not been informed of the grounds of arrest.

In his plea seeking anticipatory bail, Kumar claimed that he has been falsely implicated in the case.

He contended that Babu is merely attempting the wriggle out of the prosecution initiated by the ED into him. Kumar also alleged that Babu has been a fugitive for several years.

The ED officer also asserted that there has never been any contact between him and the other accused.

"In the conspectus of all what is stated afore, it would result in a travesty of justice, if the applicant, a public servant with unblemished track record, is made to suffer the undeserved trauma of arrest and incarceration," Kumar's plea read.

Kumar was represented by Senior Advocate P Vijayabhanu and advocates K Aravind Menon, PM Rafiq, M Revikrishnan, Ajeesh K Sasi, Sruthy N Bhat, Rahul Sunil, Sruthy KK, Nanditha S, Sohail Ahammed Harris and Aaron Zacharias Benny.