Bihar Chief Secretary named accused in fodder scam case

A Special CBI court has named seven witnesses, including Bihar Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, as accused in a multi-million-rupee fodder scam case.

According to a lawyer on Wednesday, the Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court of Shivapal Singh ordered that seven people be named as accused in the case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 13.13 crore from Dumka Treasury between December 1995 and January 1996.

All seven have been ordered to appear before the court on March 28.

Former Chief Secretary of undivided Bihar and later of Jharkhand V.S Dubey, former Director General of Vigilance Department D.P. Ojha, and then Additional SP of CBI S.K. Jha are others who have been named along with Anjani Singh.

The CBI court, while ordering that they be named as accused, said incumbent Bihar Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh was Deputy Commissioner of Dumka in 1995 when the fraudulent withdrawal took place.

The court order says that Dubey was made Finance Secretary in August 1995 and he remained silent despite knowing of the scam. Ojha, as DG of Vigilance Department, acted late in the case, it said.

Jha has been accused of making the main fodder supplier Depesh Chandak an approver who later became the blued-eyed boy of the CBI.

The court will deliver judgement on 31 people, including former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Yadav, on March 15 in the same case.

The CBI courts in past have convicted several accused on witness statement of Dubey.

--IANS

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