BJP seeks Nitish prosecution

Giving impetus to voices rising against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for his alleged involvement in the `950-crore fodder scam via his alleged acceptance of a part of the ill-gotten money, the Opposition BJP on Saturday sought his prosecution in light of a confessional statement by the scam’s kingpin. Releasing incriminating details of the deposition to police of three key people closely linked to the scam, senior BJP leader and former chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi accused Kumar and JD(U) Rajya Sabha member Shivanand Tiwari of having illicitly received some of the scam money. The BJP leader, who was the main petitioner in a fodder scam-related PIL in the Patna high court in 1996 that had led to the CBI inquiry, cited the documents to assert that Kumar had received `1 crore and Tiwari between `30 lakh and `40 lakh from an accomplice of Sham Bihari Sinha, an animal husbandry department official and prime accused in the scam, in 1994-95. “Sinha, in his confessional statement recorded by the police under Section 161 of the CrPC, had claimed he paid `1 crore to Nitish Kumar, then a Samata Party leader, through one Umesh Singh in 1994-95 after Kumar demanded some money for the expenses of the March 1995 Assembly polls,” said Mr Modi. Asserting that the confessional statements of Sinha, Umesh Prasad Singh and R.K. Das cannot be ignored, Mr Modi demanded directions to the CBI.