Friday, April 14 2006 12:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Senior Indian Foreign Service officer Rakesh Kumar, named by CBI in the human trafficking case, arrived here this morning (Apr 14, 2006) after prolonging his hospitalisation in a German city for nearly a fortnight.

Kumar, a 1972 batch IFS officer, at present posted as the Special Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs arrived here at the IGI Airport in Lufthansa Airlines from Munich.

Incidentally, Kumar arrived a day after CBI served a notice to the MEA under Section 160 of Criminal Procedure Code asking it to direct the officer to make himself available before the agency for questioning.

The investigating agency had registered a 'Preliminary Enquiry' into the case during which it found prima facie evidence against Kumar during his tenure as the Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and named him in the FIR along with three others.

Besides Kumar, Programme officer of ICCR Kehkeshan Tyagi and two others Har Gulab Singh and Shiv Kumar Sharma were named by the CBI in its FIR filed in a designated CBI court after which raids were conducted at the residential and official premises of all the accused on March 29. The remand of Sharma, who was arrested by the CBI, will also end today.

Kumar had postponed his return on three occasions before finally boarding the plane from the German city.