Uttar Pradesh official granted bail

Ghaziabad, Oct 22 (IANS) Manoj Kumar Singh, a senior Provincial Civil Service officer in Uttar Pradesh arrested for allegedly harassing his wife for dowry, was Wednesday granted bail.

A court here granted bail to Singh on a personal bond of Rs.20,000 and two sureties of like amount, defence lawyer Ram Autar Gupta said.

The Ghaziabad police arrested Singh, currently an officer on special duty (OSD) with the Meerut Development Authority (MDA), Monday morning from his Lohia Nagar residence.

'Kumar was arrested after his wife Ranju Kumar filed a complaint of dowry harassment,' Superintendent of Police Vijay Bhushan told IANS. The two were married in 1998.

Ranju, niece of a top Uttar Pradesh bureaucrat, said in her complaint that Kumar used to beat her and demand dowry. She also accused him of having a series of extra marital relations.

'We got married after I came back from California but soon a rift developed between us because of his erratic and cruel behaviour,' Ranju said.

'I continued to bear his every cruel act in the hope that he would soon change his ways. Even after we had a son he continued to harass me,' she said.

In January, when Singh was posted as a city magistrate here, he was accused by a woman of sending vulgar messages on her mobile phone. Kumar was then transferred to MDA.