Tehelka - The People's Paper

Tehelka - The People's Paper

SCAM PROBE

FODDER, FODDER, NO ORDER

NO BIHAR POLITICIAN HAS BEEN CONVICTED IN THE 11-YEAR-OLD FODDER SCAM; THEIR CO-ACCUSED ARE FACING THE HEAT, REPORTS ANAND ST DAS

EVERYONE THOUGHT the delayed trials of the Rs 1,000-crore fodder scam cases would be a clear case of denial of justice. But after 11-long-years, the prosecution has sprung surprises in the last month. The CBI special courts in Jharkhand have sentenced 76 accused including two close relations of the RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav to rigorous imprisonment (RI), ranging from three to six years.

Laloo’s nephews — Nagendra Rai and Birendra Yadav — were among the 42 fake suppliers to the Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) of the then undivided Bihar who were sentenced to three years’ RI and a fine of Rs 75,000 each by the special judge Uma Shankar Prasad Sinha. Sons of Laloo’s elder brother Mahavir Rai, according to the prosecution, had cheated the AHD by producing fake supply bills of veterinary medicines, fodder and medical equipment. They had withdrawn Rs 7.98 lakh from the Chaibasa treasury (currently in Jharkhand) on the basis of those bills in 1995.

In Chaibasa, the headquarters of West Singhbhoom district, the then deputy commissioner Amit Khare, currently principal secretary to the Governor, registered the first fodder scam case in 1996.

Soon after the three judgments were pronounced in May, there were frenzied scenes at the court premises in Ranchi. After the judgment on May 30, Shailendra Kashyap, an accused and former treasury official, who got a three-year term was seen weeping and touching the feet of his lawyer. Mahendra Prasad, another accused who was acquitted, was also seen doing the same. The reason behind such emotional outbursts was the social stigma attached to them for long, and even their family members treated them with contempt.

Of the total 59 cases, 55 are being tried in the CBI special courts in Jharkhand. Four are under trial in Bihar. Due to the death of a prime accused and on technical grounds, two cases are on the verge of closure in Jharkhand. Of the 53 remaining, judgments have been pronounced in 19 and the rest, according to the CBI SP RC Chaudhary, “are at the advanced stage of trial”. The total number of accused in these cases is over 700 and there are 10,000 prosecution witnesses. Twenty accused have turned approvers while 50 died during the trial.

The largest quantum of punishment was given to one Pramod Kumar Jaiswal, who was sentenced to a total of 185 years. Jaiswal, a Ranchi-based supplier, was accused in 33 cases and, so far, convicted in 19. His appeal is pending in the High Court. However, no politician, charge-sheeted for conspiracy and misuse of official position, was convicted so far though the suppliers and state officials are at the receiving end. In fact, the CBI has been allegedly softpedalling the investigation and prosecution of cases, categorised as ‘larger conspiracy cases’, registered against them.

Prominent politicians who are in the dock are RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav, who was Bihar chief minister during much of the scam period, former Chief Minister and one-time Congress leader Jagannath Mishra, sitting RJD MP from Khagaria RK Rana, former legislators Jagdish Sharma and Dhruv Bhagat (who were the heads of Bihar Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee) and former Bihar AHD Minister Vidya Sagar Nishad. It was alleged that during Mishra’s stint as CM, the scam started. Politicians who were charged but died during the trial include former Congress MP Rajo Singh, former minister CP Verma and former AHD Minister Bholaram Toophani.

Laloo’s name figured in the accused lists of five ‘larger conspiracy cases’ — RC 20/96 (Rs 37 crore), RC 38/96 (Rs 31.34 crore), RC 47/96 (Rs 182 crore; the largest amount fraudulently withdrawn from Doranda treasury, Ranchi), RC 64/96 (Rs 5 crore) and RC 68/96 (Rs 37.62 crore). The CBI has examined only 140 of the 1,100 prosecution witnesses in the case RC 47/96. Similarly, in the case RC 20/96, only 250 of the 500 prosecution witnesses have been examined.

“We are moving in the right direction, and all the allegations of soft-pedalling the cases are baseless,” said Chaudhary. However sources said that the CBI courts, on several occasions, have expressed dissatisfaction over the manner in which the investigative agency is handling the cases.

The CBI has a point to make. The delay in getting government sanction to prosecute them, the sleuths say, is the biggest hurdle in their path. “We worked very hard for years to secure the sanctions. For example, we got the sanction in Rajo Singh’s case only in September 2006. Further, it’s also been a tough job in getting the witnesses depose against the politicians. Many are abroad and it needs a lot of persuasion to bring them here and depose in the courts,” said a senior CBI official on conditions of anonymity.

According to CBI sources, cases against the politicians got diluted when a number of witnesses were lured away by the RJD regime. VS Dubey, former finance commissioner during the scam period, had deposed as a witness before the CBI and provided valuable evidence that confirm Laloo’s role in the scam. He became Jharkhand’s first chief secretary when the new state was carved out in 2000. After his retirement, Bihar government appointed him as the vice-chancellor of the Nalanda Open University. “Dubey had wholeheartedly cooperated with us and revealed how Laloo, as chief minister, sat on the scam files, discarding his request to lodge FIRs against the AHD and treasury officers. He had also provided us with important inputs that pointed at Laloo’s efforts to scuttle the investigations. But years later, when he came to the CBI courts, he didn’t say as much as he revealed earlier,” said another CBI official.

Shiv Balak Chowdhary, another important CBI witness, who was director (AHD) during the scam period, had also handed over important AHD files to the CBI that contain incriminating evidence against Laloo and Mishra. Soon after his retirement, Chowdhary was appointed as a member of the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC). Close on the heels of his deposition in the CBI courts, three vigilance cases were registered against him for the alleged irregularities in the BPSC and he was taken into custody. The CBI officials believe that it was a punished by the RJD regime for his depositions. “Now we are in a dilemma: how to get him depose in the other pending cases,” said an official.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Bihar Assembly was instrumental in hushing up the scam. According to the CBI, Laloo used the Constitutional sanctity of the PAC to scuttle the efforts to investigate the scam. Whenever senior bureaucrats brought the issue to the CM’s notice, the PAC put a roadblock saying no investigation could start against the officials until the PAC’s internal investigations were over. “As per our findings, Laloo willingly and deliberately succumbed to the PAC’s designs as the body was helping him shield the accused,” said a sleuth.

ACCORDING TO a recorded deposition before the CBI, in a meeting held at the secretariat on June 7, 1993, Laloo (the then CM) asked the then deputy commissioner of Chaibasa, Sajal Chakraborty (an accused who is currently serving in the Jharkhand cadre), why Rs 50 lakh was withdrawn from the Chaibasa treasury on a single day. The next day, the PAC shot off a letter to the CM saying it was looking into the case, and no action should be taken against the official until the probe was over. “Soon after the PAC letter, the CM ordered closing of the file. The PAC, neck-deep in the scam, was used as a fig leaf by the CM to dissuade some honest bureaucrats who were keen to probe the matter. There is enough evidence to prove that a considerable part of the funds were parked at some places, according to the CM’s direction,” revealed a senior CBI official.

Two persons who had been very close to Laloo during the heyday of the fodder scam were Shyam Bihari Sinha, the alleged mastermind of the scam who was then joint director (AHD), and the Khagaria MP RK Rana. Sinha, who was given an extension of service after retirement, died a few years ago. The CBI has statements of several witnesses, describing how Laloo received pecuniary benefits through Rana and Sinha. In 1997, Deepak Chandak, one of the biggest suppliers of fodder, had deposed before a Patna magistrate that he had paid Rs 50 crore to Sinha, which was meant for Laloo.

While Laloo, who had to quit the CM’s post following the CBI inquiry, is basking in the international limelight as a management guru, Mishra is currently a JD (U) leader who is close to the ruling regime. His son Nitish Mishra is the minister for sugar industries. If the sleuths are to be believed, the politicians will have to pay a huge price for their alleged role in the scam. But when? That’s the million-dollar question.
Jun 30 , 2007