CBI chargesheets IFS officer in human trafficking case

New Delhi, Dec 31 (UNI) The CBI has filed chargesheets against IFS officer Rakesh Kumar and three others, booked in a human trafficking case in March last year, sources today confirmed.

Kumar, a former official in the Ministry of External Affairs, and ICCR programme officer Kehkeshan Tyagi along with two others were accused of sending nine people to Germany by showing them as part of a Punjabi dance troupe in 2005.

The sources said Kumar, Tyagi and two others--Har Gulab Singh and Shiv Kumar--were chargesheeted on December 26 under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of Indian Penal Code and 13(i)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act.

The nine people, sent as members of the dance troupe disappeared after arriving in Berlin and later filed applications seeking political asylum in Germany under false names.

The CBI received sanction for prosecution of the 1972 batch officer from the MEA in July, and only then did the investigating agency go ahead with the filing of the chargesheet.

UNI