Senior bureaucrat involved in human trafficking case

The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested a person in connection with the alleged human trafficking of people to Germany, a case in which Special Secretary of External Affairs Ministry Rakesh Kumar has also been named.

The arrest of Shiv Kumar Sharma, which was kept a closely guarded secret, was made on March 31, two days after raids were conducted in the case. The agency has secured Sharma's custody till April 7, highly placed CBI sources said in New Delhi.

In a related development Kumar, who has been named by the investigating agency in its first information reoprt, has proceeded on medical leave and is at present admitted to a hospital in Munich, Germany.

The 1972 batch IFS officer got himself admitted Sunday when he was on his way back to India.

Kumar, special secretary (Economic Relations) in the ministry, who had accompanied Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma on his trip to Latin America recently, was asked to cut short his visit following CBI raids at his residence from where more than Rs 4 lakh cash was said to have been recovered.

Sharma, as the director general of Indian Council of Cultural Relations, had allegedly acted as a conduit and took money for sending people abroad, the CBI FIR said.