Kolkata, Oct 26 Former CBI Director Joginder Singh told me “don’t touch” RJD President and Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and spare him in the Rs 950 crore fodder scam of the 1990s, key investigator and ex-Joint Director of the federal probe agency Upendra Nath Biswas said on Sunday.
Biswas, in an exclusive interview with IANS, recalled how, during 1996-1997, former CBI chief Joginder Singh summoned him to his office and tried to convince him to go easy against Lalu Prasad Yadav.
“He said Biswas, do you think Lalu Yadav is the only politician who is corrupt. All politicians in India are corrupt. Why are you hounding Lalu? He said, do something so that Lalu gets spared. Go after anyone but don’t touch Lalu,” said the retired Central Bureau of Investigation Joint Director.
Biswas said the then CBI Director also tried to convince him by saying that there would be no adverse judicial fallout if he would let Lalu go off the hook.
Sharing another fact about the decades-old investigation into the Rs 950 crore fodder scam, Biswas, 84, said his team got support from some upright officers within the system.
“A turning point in the fodder scam case was a phone call from a young IAS officer who asked me to meet him in the office and collect a trunk-load of documentary evidence in the case,” he said.
Hailed by his peers for his impartial investigation and the ability to withstand interference during the probe, Biswas revealed that it was only due to the close monitoring by courts that he managed to withstand pressure from his seniors to go soft on Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Recalling the days of the high-profile probe, he said, “The accused who indulged in the misappropriation worked at the lower level, but their connections led us up to the Chief Minister.”
“Those who committed the crime paid money to the people at the upper level, with the latter issuing orders. This was a larger conspiracy which showed total disregard for law and administration,” said Biswas.
The fodder scam unfolded during 1990-91 and 1995-96. As part of it, the then Bihar Animal Husbandry Department officials, in conspiracy with unscrupulous suppliers and others, withdrew and misappropriated hundreds of crores of rupees under the pretext of making payment to the suppliers, who submitted spurious/bogus bills falsely showing supply of feed, fodder and veterinary medicines.
It was further alleged that the government money, so withdrawn, was eventually misappropriated. During the investigation, the roles of bureaucrats, politicians, including the then Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo and Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and others came to the fore.
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