Cbi Raids Laloos Pvt Secys Residence

The CBI conducted simultaneous raids yesterday at the residences of the private secretary of Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, five senior IAS officials, and an income tax commissioner posted at Calcutta, in connection with the multi-crore fodder scam.

Barring the income tax commissioner, all the five civil servants are named accused in the all important case No RC 20/96, alongwith the Chief Minister, two Bihar ministers Bhola Ram Toofani, animal husbandry, and Vidyasagar Nishad, labour, former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and Union minister Chandradeo Prasad Verma.

The case dealing with the conspiracy angle involves the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 45 lakh from the Chaibasa treasury. The case is important in the sense that the CBI had sought the Governors sanction to prosecute the Chief Minister and the other accused.

 

The officials, whose residences were searched for hours, include Mahesh Prasad, secretary, science and technology; Beck Julius, secretary, animal husbandry ; K Arumugam, secretary, Labour; Sajal Chakrovarty, managing director, Patna industrial area Developmental authority; and Phoolchand Singh, former development commissioner.

Raids were also carried out at the residence of Mukul Kapoor, the private secretary of the Chief Minister.

According to sources, the residences of these officials were raided earlier too but this time the raids were conducted with a view to ascertain the property amassed by them through dubious means.

It could not be ascertained whether the officials were taken into custody or not, but yesterdays raid assumes significance in the light of the Patna High Courts ruling on May 22 as to why the CBI was discriminating among the accused persons so far as arrests were concerned. The court had observed that while the investigating agency had already taken into custody a few people, it was waiting for the chargesheet to be filed in the case of some persons.

The CBI, in return, had informed the court on May 23 that it had issued necessary instructions to all the investigating officers that there should be no discrimination between the accused persons when it came to arresting them in connection with the fodder scam.