Indian filmmaker released on bail in US
By IANSWednesday, August 25, 2010
WASHINGTON - An Indian documentary filmmaker arrested for carrying brass knuckles and suspicious Islamic jihadi literature in a Houston airport last week has been released on a $5,000 bond and ordered not to move out of Houston till Friday when his case comes up for hearing.
Vijay Kumar, 40, was arrested at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport Friday after he was spotted “acting suspicious” when screeners thought they saw a possible handgun in a scan of his baggage.
A resident of Malad in northwestern Mumbai, Kumar was released on bail Tuesday night after he spent five days at the Harris County Jail. Kumar has to be present when his case comes up for hearing Friday.
State District Judge David Mendoza Monday lowered Kumar’s bail from $50,000 to $5,000 after he told authorities that he was in Houston to lecture a Hindu organisation about Islamic fundamentalism and the books packed in his checked luggage were educational tools, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The Chronicle cited attorneys for Vijay Kumar as saying he has surrendered his passport while he mulls the deal. He does not want a criminal record to interfere next time he visits the US, his attorney Grant Scheiner said.
