New Delhi, March 29: A former director-general of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), under the ministry of external affairs, has been booked for human trafficking.

The CBI’s probe into the disappearance of touring Indian artistes in Berlin last year led them to Rakesh Kumar, who is now special secretary (economic relations) in the foreign ministry.

Acting on a complaint from two Ludhiana residents, the bureau booked Kumar and three others, and raided their homes and offices in Delhi and Punjab.

This is a rare instance where a senior officer in such a key position has fallen into the net that usually snares travel agents operating in places like Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

Last week, the government had recalled a second secretary at the Indian mission in Kuala Lumpur. The government had then said he faced the charge of duping workers but it did not respond to questions whether human trafficking was involved.

In Kumar’s case, CBI sources said, a cultural group, Mehak Punjab Di, was empanelled with ICCR in violation of established procedures.

Subsequently, a 15-member dance troupe of Mehak Punjab Di was sent to Germany in September 2005. Nine members went missing on arrival in Berlin.

The CBI holds that the artistes were taken to Germany with the mala fide intention of smuggling them into Europe.

The bureau has registered a case against Kumar for alleged trafficking of people to Germany when he was ICCR director-general, sources said.

The FIR said that during his tenure, Kumar and programme officer Kehkeshan Tyagi had entered into a criminal conspiracy with two others to facilitate illegal trafficking of nine persons to Berlin.

Kumar, Tyagi, Har Gulab Singh and Shiv Kumar Sharma were booked for criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery under various sections of the Indian Penal Code as well as under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The residence of Kumar, who is at present touring Brazil, was raided today.