CBI reports on plea to make Nitish accused in fodder scam

The CBI presented its report Friday in the Jharkhand High Court on a petition seeking that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too be made an accused in the multi-crore-rupee fodder scam case.

Mithilesh Kumar Singh had filed a petition in the high court demanding that the Bihar chief minister be made an accused in the scam.

The petitioner had earlier filed an application under the Right to Information Act, and recovered the supplier's statement, which said that Nitish Kumar was also a beneficiary in the fodder scam.

The petition had earlier been dismissed by the Ranchi CBI Court.

Mithilesh Kumar then moved the Jharkhand High Court, which sought a report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the matter.

The next hearing of the case will take place Dec 13.

The fodder scam, which broke out in 1996, relates to expenses incurred on fodder, medicines and animal husbandry equipment for vast herds of livestock. Investigations revealed that the herds did not exist, and bills had been made fraudulently, to defraud the Bihar exchequer of about Rs.900 crore.

Among the accused in the case are two former chief ministers of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Jagannath Mishra.

In 2000, the state of Jharkhand was carved out from Bihar.