Sadhu: In a spot

Patna, Feb. 13: A vigilance court today issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Sadhu Yadav for allegedly furnishing false and suspicious information during interrogation in connection with the multi-crore flood scam.

The government has issued a countrywide alert and also asked the airport authorities to help arrest the controversial politician.

Additional director-general (vigilance) Neelmani said they have requested the Delhi police commissioner, directors-general of police of all states, chief of the Central Industrial Security Force, besides all zonal police officials in Bihar to cooperate with the bureau in arresting the Gopalganj MP.

Special judge (vigilance) R.N. Prasad issued the arrest warrant on the prayer of the bureau.

An amount of Rs 6 lakh had been credited to the bank account of Sadhu, the brother of former chief minister Rabri Devi, from the one held by Santosh Jha, an accused in the scam.

?During interrogation on September 12 last year, he (Sadhu) told us that the money was the proceeds of a car that he had sold to Santosh Jha. Further investigation revealed that he had bought the 2001 model Opel car in question from one Sumit Jena in Delhi in June 2004 for a mere Rs 1 lakh. It is strange that in January 2005, he sold the same vehicle for a higher sum of Rs 6 lakh,? Neelmani said.

Vigilance officials said the vehicle?s value, instead of depreciating, actually went up after six months. ?This brings the transaction under very serious suspicion. It looks unbelievable,? they added.

Sadhu was known to be close to Jha, a small-time trader who made a fortune, and former Patna district magistrate Gautam Goswami, who was in charge of flood relief operations. Both are lodged in jail and their bail pleas have been rejected.

The vigilance officials said Jha?s interrogation shed light on the ?lapse?. ?We then went for detailed verification of documents and other evidence to establish that the information furnished by Sadhu was false. We need to interrogate the politician further and his arrest will facilitate a thorough probe of the entire flood scam,? an official pointed out.

Sadhu and his brother Subhash Yadav, a member of the Rajya Sabha, were powerful players during the RJD regime in Bihar.

But both the brothers have gone nearly incommunicado following the ouster of the Rabri Devi government. So much so that they are not seen even at the RJD meetings.