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CBI mounts extensive raids on Rabri Devi, kin

Central Bureau of Investigation sleuths conducted simultaneous raids on the home of Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and her relatives on Friday morning.

This is in connection with a fresh case of disproportionate assets filed against former chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi in the special designated CBI court of S K Lal on Thursday.

The raids continued on Rabri Devi's official residence, the homes of her two brothers Sadhu Yadav and Subhas Yadav (MLCs) and Laloo Yadav's cousin Prabhu Nath Yadav in Patna and other parts of the state.

A posse of armed constables were posted at the entrances and exit gates of the chief minister's official residence, prohibiting general entry.

Similar was the scene at the homes of Sadhu and Subhas Yadav and other relatives of the chief minister.

CBI Joint Director U N Biswas, who has been camping in Patna for the last four days, personally supervised the raids, sources said.

The raids were conducted under the supervision of CBI Superintendent (Dhanbad) Rakesh Asthana.

The CBI had registered a fresh case of amassing wealth of more than Rs 35,00,000, which was disproportionate to his known source of income, against Laloo Yadav yesterday and had informed the special judge about this.

The CBI had instituted the fresh case (4a/98) in connection with the Rs 9.5 billion fodder scam against Yadav and had informed Lal about it around 1630 hours yesterday.

Biswas had assured the Patna high court in March of instituting disproportionate assets cases against the politicians and other persons already chargesheeted in the cases of conspiracy aspect of the scam.

As a fallout, the media has been barred entry into 1, Anne Marg residence of Rabri Devi, while it was raided by a posse of CBI sleuths from Friday morning, with an entire road sealed and army jawans guarding the barricades at both ends.

A team of correspondents were prevented from entering the road by the Bihar Military Police who had been camping there since Thursday night.

Highly placed sources said a team of 20 officers led by CBI Deputy Inspector General of Police N C Verma entered the chief minister's home at about 0750 hours for conducting the search operations.

The team had completed raids on the ground floor and had began searching the first floor even as the chief minister was seen dazed in the absence of her husband. Laloo Yadav was on his way home from Ahmedabad after attending the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha rally yesterday.

The media was not allowed entry into the homes of the chief minister's brothers -- Sadhu and Subhas Yadav -- either. The CBI sleuths asked the customs and central excise staff to stand by at the CBI office adjoining the chief minister's residence.

In New Delhi, Laloo Yadav said the raids were borne out of political vendetta for which "I will first go to the people and then to court."

Before his departure for Patna, Yadav said the timing of the raids -- when he was away -- "showed they wanted to torture my wife and children."

He said the chief minister, who was not an accused in any of the cases, should not have been put in such an embarrassing situation and inconvenience in her husband's absence.

''The raids has been conducted by the CBI at the official residence of the chief minister and not my home, which is a flagrant violation of the law itself,'' he said. All this has been done at the instance of the BJP-led government at the Centre, he alleged.

Yadav added that the raids were unwarranted as the chargesheet has already been filed and he had already declared his property and assets. While the matter is sub-judice, the CBI "with a motive to harass and malign" had suddenly filed a DA case at the Centre's directions.

UNI

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