A Special Vigilance court has issued a non-bailable warrant of arrest against Sadhu Yadav, the brother-in-law of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in connection with Bihar's multi-crore rupee flood relief scam.
Special Vigilance Judge R N Prasad on Monday issued the warrant of arrest against the Rashtriya Janata Dal parliamentarian from Gopalgunj on an appeal from the Vigilance Bureau.
Vigilance Bureau Additional Director General Neelmani said the bureau had sufficient evidence to prove the charge that Sadhu Yadav had allegedly received ill-gotten money from a supplier of relief materials and alleged kingpin of the scam, Santosh Kumar Jha, who is in judicial custody in Beur jail in Patna since last year.
The bureau had last year issued a notice to Sadhu Yadav, asking him to explain the transfer of Rs 6 lakh to his Patna secretariat branch account of the State Bank of India by Santosh. The parliamentarian maintained that the proceeds were from the sale of a car.
"Investigations revealed that Yadav had purchased a car for Rs 1 lakh from a Sumit Jena in Delhi in April 2004, which he sold to Jha for Rs 6 lakh in January 2005. This appears absurd," Neelmani said, adding that investigations had also showed that the vehicle was not at all transferred.
Neelmani said the income tax returns filed by Sadhu Yadav also did not mention the source of Rs 6 lakh credited to his account.
Neelmani said the bureau had faxed copies of the warrant and requested Delhi Police Commissioner, Director Generals of Police of all states, Director General of the Central Industrial Security Force, which is in charge of security of airports, besides all zonal IGs, DIGs and SPs in Bihar to cooperate with the bureau in arresting the parliamentarian.
The secretary general of the Lok Sabha was also being informed about the pending warrant against the parliamentarian, he said.
