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Olga remanded to police custody till April 23

Additional District and Sessions Judge R L Chugh ordered alleged Uzbek smuggler Olga Kozireva to police custody till April 23. The judge passed the orders on the application moved by the special investigating unit nine of the Central Bureau of Investigation Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, Chugh had given the CBI permission to arrest Ogla after Tihar jail authorities produced her in court. Olga was produced after the judge had issued a production warrant against.

Olga was arrested by the CBI on the basis of a fresh case registered by the agency on March 31 after which the agency deployed more than 400 officials to carry out country-wide raids on the office and residences of top customs officers who had been on duty at the Indira Gandhi International airport. According to the CBI, Olga visited India to smuggled in India Chinese silk in connivance of two Afghans Del Agha and Mamoor Khan and some customs officials.

Olga refused to sign the copy of the court order which allowed the CBI to arrest her in the court premises on April 10.

According to CBI spokesman S M Khan the two Afghans disappeared the moment they realised that the CBI was on their trail.

The CBI in its application had asked for remand of Olga for two weeks on the plea that she was the key person in the case and needed to be interrogated to find out the involvement of top customs officials.

Ogla's advocate opposed it saying she had already given her statement before the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and the same could be used as evidence.

The judge's only condition was that Olga be interrogated only during the day.

According to CBI sources, Olga is a key figure in the case. The two Afghans used to live with three others in the dingy lanes of Ballimaran in Chandni Chowk.

Agha and Khan used to be present at the Indira Gandhi International airport whenever Olga came to India (as many as three times a week) and paid money in dollars to customs officials to allow Olga through the green channel. "She would sometimes carry as many as 27 suitcases and manage to pass through the green channel. If she passed through the red channel only a nominal customs duty was charged from her," said a top CBI official.

Though Olga was arrested by customs officials in August last year, another woman accomplice, Nazira managed to escape.

In the meanwhile the CBI is trying hard to persuade K Vijay Pratap and Sharvan Kumar to become approvers so that B P Verma could be pinned down in the corruption case registered against him and his son Siddarth Verma and their associate Bhavna Pandey.

Like on Tuesday, Olga covered her face with a scarf. Since she claims that she does not understand either English or Hindi, the CBI is now looking for a Russian translator. "She is going to be a hard nut to crack," admitted a CBI officer.

When asked whether they found anything during raids on customs officials, the officer admitted that media hype had alerted many customs officials and no cash was recovered. "We are still processing the information. Olga's arrest will help us to identify some of the key customs officials the case," he said.

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