More Names Figure In Bihar Fodder Scam

An assistant in the establishment section of the animal husbandry department, in his confessional statement before the CBI special judge, S K Lal, had deposed that the mastermind behind the scam, Dr Shyam Bihari Sinha, had in 1983 bribed the then chief minister for getting Vishwapati Sitaram Singh appointed as director of the department.

Sinha had paid a sum of Rs 20 lakh to the then chief minister through M M Mishra, a former Rajya Sabha member for getting the job done, the official said in his deposition. Jagannath Mishra was the then chief minister.

However, Mishra had denied his involvement in the scam. He maintained that he was pained and dismayed over his name being dragged into the incident.

 

Frequent mention of my name in the above context causes confusion in public mind and amounts to an attempt at character assassination. Since I am in no way concerned with the scam, I would like to make it clear that incidents of unauthorised withdrawals were nil to negligible during my three stints as chief minister. Neither the CAG nor any other authorised agency has thus far made any mention about it, he said.

Mishra further stated that he had highlighted unauthorised withdrawals from government treasuries on the floor of the state legislature and public platforms.

On June 4, 1993, I had demanded an enquiry by the CBI or the CAG into the this. Its an irony that my name is being dragged into the controversy now, he said.

In his confessional statement, Raghvendra Kishore Das said that he came into contact with Shayam Bihari Sinha, the kingpin behind the scam in 1978, when he got his transfer stayed by putting pressure on the then chief minister.

According to Das, Sinha was introduced to Laloo Prasad Yadav by the then speaker Radha Nandan Jha. In return, Yadav, who was an MLA, preferred to withdraw certain questions he had submitted before the Assembly secretariat.

Since then, Sinha started giving money to Yadav through Radha Nandan Jha. Sinha even used the services of Yadav to get Ram Raja Ram appointed as director of the animal husbandry department in 1989 and monetarily helped Yadav to become the chief minister of Bihar. He contested for the post of Janata Dal legislature party leader in 1990.

Besides helping Mishra and Yadav, Das had also financially helped the leaders of other political parties including Krishna Mardi, Suraj Mandal (both JMM) Dutti Pahan, Gulshan Azmani (both BJP), Ram Jatan Sinha, Radhanandan Jha, Rajo Singh and Jagdish Sharma (all Congress).

Das also claims that Sinha used to bribe bureaucrats. Former secretary of the department, Mahesh Prasad, was bribed Rs 3- 4 lakh during 1992-94, he said. According to Das, Prasad built a house and purchased a shop in a posh marketing complex (Maurya Lok) for his son-in-law and daughter.

Das claimed that the controversial Janata Dal MLA, R K Rana (now in jail) must have received Rs 50 crore from Sinha but this money could not have been meant for Rana alone, he says.

Sinha, says Das, used to influence Das through an administrative officer in the Legislative Council and one S B Banerjee, posted in the office of Accountant general, Ranchi.