A Lt Colonel arrested on charge of child pornography was granted bail on Wednesday in Mumbai even as police ruled out his extradition to Germany for trial for the same offence.
Lt Colonel Jagmohan Balbir Singh was apprehended on May 6 from his South Mumbai house for allegedly uploading obscene photographs and video clips of children on the internet.
The 42-year-old officer, who was in police custody till today, was granted bail by a local court on a personal bond of Rs 25,000, his lawyer Dilip Bagwe said.
Meanwhile, Joint Police Commissioner Himanshu Roy ruled out Singh's extradition to Germany.
"Police in Germany have also registered a case against the accused for child pornography. They would close the case now as Singh has been arrested here and he cannot be tried and punished twice for the same offence," Roy said, adding "we will send them (German police) a detailed report related to the case."
Last year, German Police had come across obscene contents being uploaded on a child pornography site from Mumbai and brought the issue before the Interpol, which alerted the CBI in Delhi in March 2010.
The CBI passed on the information to the Mumbai Police which nabbed the officer and seized a computer and two hard disks from his house.
Singh, who is with the Army for 20 years, had "downloaded all child pornography material from the internet. He himself was not involved in preparing them," Roy said.
Earlier in the day, police sought extension of Singh's custody in the court stating forensic report of the two hard disks containing hundreds of obscene photographs and video clips seized from Singh's home were still awaited.
They said his credit card transaction and mobile phone billing details were also awaited from the respective companies.
However, the court granted him bail, saying the probe in the case was over and asked Singh to present himself before the police every three days.
Singh, who hails from Punjab, was attached to the Army's supply and transport wing in Colaba, South Mumbai. PTI
