On Tuesday (5th December), absconding IPS officer and Former Gaya SSP, Aditya Kumar surrendered in front of a Patna court. Notably, he was absconding for more than 7 months after a case was registered against him for his alleged involvement with or being negligent against the liquor mafia. The 2011-batch IPS officer Kumar is also accused of creating a fake WhatsApp profile of a former Patna High Court Chief Justice to influence criminal proceedings against him and seek favourable postings.
Kumar surrendered before the Patna court after his pre-arrest bail plea was denied by the Supreme Court. The apex court had given him a two-week ultimatum to surrender and it was about to expire on 6th December. As a result, he finally surrendered in the court of ACJM-1 in Patna Civil Court on 5th December. After the surrender, his lawyer applied for bail, but the court rejected this demand. He was then taken into judicial custody and sent to jail till 18th December.
Kumar was accused of creating a fake WhatsApp profile for Bihar DGP to drop the case against him
Notably, on 15th October 2022, the Economic Offenses Unit registered a case against him at Fatehpur police station in Gaya for negligence against the liquor mafia. Consequently, the police headquarters suspended him.
It is alleged that to get the case closed against him and get a better posting, Kumar’s accomplice Abhishek Aggarwal created a fake profile of the Chief Justice of Patna High Court and contacted the then DGP of Bihar.
As per reports, Aditya Kumar then allegedly duped the then Bihar DGP SK Singhal through the fake WhatsApp account that had the photograph of former Chief Justice Sanjay Karol as the profile picture. It is further alleged that his friend Abhishek contacted the Bihar DGP from the WhatsApp number and asked him to drop the case against Kumar in connection with his alleged involvement with liquor mafias and sought favourable postings.
Earlier, the Supreme Court bench rejected Kumar’s bail plea after the lower courts denied him bail. The apex court had observed that the larger issue involving the IPS officer and two other judicial officers could not be neglected and directed Kumar to surrender within two weeks.
The order had said, “This Court believes that the petitioner is not entitled to the benefit of anticipatory bail, mainly on account of the seriousness and gravity of the alleged offences and apparent non-cooperation.”
Additionally, the apex court ordered the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Bihar Police to submit the entire case diary of the criminal case in a sealed cover on 12th December, the next date of the hearing in the case.
It is important to note that Bihar Police, working under the Home Department of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar couldn’t track him down for more than seven months despite the victims being from high-profile backgrounds, i.e., a Chief Justice of Patna High Court and DGP of Bihar Police.