Hazaribagh/Dhanbad, July 27: The CBI today raided the residences and offices of three top officials of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) in Hazaribagh and a ranger in Dhanbad in connection with the Giridih plantation scam of 2008.
The sleuths visited the house of B.M. Jha, assistant director of soil conservation department of DVC, at Canary Road and reportedly recovered gold ornaments and documents related to fixed deposits. A four-member team also targeted the house and office of Sanjay Kumar, senior divisional engineer (soil conservation), near Heerabag Chowk and grilled him for over four hours. The residence of Alok Bandhopadhyay, zonal officer of soil conservation department, at Jhinjharia Pool locality and his office were also searched.
In Dhanbad, a joint team of the anti-corruption wing, Ranchi, and the Dhanbad unit of the CBI, raided ranger D. Haldar’s office and house in area No. 6 of Maithon.
Sources said DVC’s soil conservation department was assigned to undertake a plantation drive involving crores of rupees in Saria area-3 of Giridih in 2008. But the officials withdrew money using forged documents without carrying out any plantation.
The DVC had launched an inquiry into the fraud reportedly involving several bigwigs. But so far, the probe has failed to reveal much with the CBI taking over the investigations. This year, it lodged two separate cases — RC 9A/11 and RC 10A/11 — and began investigations.
Later speaking to The Telegraph, Kumar said he was being targeted by DVC director Fateh Bahadur Singh and senior divisional engineer T.R Yadav.
“I earned everybody’s displeasure when a team selected me for the post of director in 2008 even though I was a junior. I have nothing to do with that case. It was Yadav who cleared the bills related to the plantation drive,” he added.
Confirming that he was questioned for four hours by the CBI team, Kumar said: “I have documents to prove my innocence and have handed them to CBI officials. But today’s raid tarnished my image.”
In Dhanbad team, the joint team, led by CBI inspectors K.K. Singh and Shyam Lamba, seized some incriminating documents from Haldar’s office and house.
They reached Haldar’s house around 8am and the search operation continued till 1.30pm. The sleuths also questioned Haldar, who was present at the house. However, he was not arrested.
CBI DSP Abhay Kumar Upadhyay said: “Some incriminating documents related to the plantation fraud have been seized. Investigations are on. More details will come to the fore after completion of inquiry.”
