J P Yadav, Posted online: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 at 0000 hrs
 

PATNA: The Bihar Vigilance Bureau today wrapped up its probe into the multi-crore flood relief scam, exposed by The Indian Express, and filed char-gesheets against RJD MP Sadhu Yadav and eight others. The agency even sought an arrest warrant against Sadhu, brother-in-law of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, naming him as a secondary accused and a beneficiary of the flood relief money that was siphoned off.

Vigilance Additional Director General Neelmani said that the probe was over and his department would now work for speedy trial of the cases.

According to the Vigilance Bureau, a sum of Rs 6 lakh was transferred from main accused Santosh Jha’s bank account to Sadhu’s account. The MP claimed the money was payment for a car he had sold to Santosh’s father. On verification, the Bureau found that “Sadhu had purchased a car for Rs 1 lakh but in less than a year had sold it for Rs 6 lakh… The price of a second hand car depreciates but here it appreciated six times. This was unconvincing,” Neelmani said.

As the probe into the scam drew to a close, 13 names figured as prime accused while nine others were made secondary accused. Santosh Jha and former Patna District Magistrate Gautam Goswami, currently in jail, are the main accused in the scam. Sadhu Yadav’s name figures as a secondary accused and a beneficiary of the scam.