New Delhi, Dec 18 : A Delhi court Tuesday granted bail to Manoj Prasad, an alleged middleman arrested in connection with bribery allegations involving CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana.

Special CBI judge Santosh Snehi Mann granted bail to Prasad saying that no purpose will be served by keeping him in further custody.

Prasad, arrested on October 17, is currently in judicial custody.

The court had on November 3 denied bail to Prasad, saying it was not a fit stage to grant him relief. On October 31, it had granted bail to co-accused and CBI DSP Devender Kumar after the agency did not oppose his bail petition.

The agency had registered an FIR against Asthana and others on a written complaint of businessman Sathish Sana on October 15.

Besides Asthana, Prasad and Kumar, another alleged middleman Somesh Prasad has also been named as an accused in the case.

The FIR had alleged that Kumar, then Investigating Officer (IO) in the case against meat exporter Moin Qureshi, repeatedly called the complainant to the CBI office to harass and compel him to pay a bribe of Rs 5 crore for getting a clean chit in the case.

The complaint had also alleged that a part of the bribe was paid by Sana.

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Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.

The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.

Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.

The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.

Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.

The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.