Jamshedpur, April 4: The Central Bureau of Investigation has stumbled upon fresh clues into Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) card scam.

The India Telephone Cards (ITC), issued by the BSNL city office, are being used by STD booth-owners operating in other cities. The ITC cards are being used in as many as two metros and six other cities in the country. The CBI authorities have issued letters to all STD booth-owners asking how they had procured the India Telecom Cards.

A probe into last year?s ITC scam, which came to the fore in the BSNL?s Jamshedpur circle, is still on. The ITC scam, involving over Rs 6 crore that flourished between 2001 to 2004 in the Jamshedpur circle, was unearthed after an internal inquiry by the chief general manager of BSNL?s Jharkhand circle.

The Ranchi office of the Central Bureau of Investigation has been entrusted to probe the multi-crore scam.

The CBI had enough evidence to prove that some influential persons in the BSNL?s local circle were involved in the scam. On the basis of initial findings of the probe, the BSNL authorities suspended senior officer S.K. Madhukar for his alleged involvement in the ITC scam.

Sources said the CBI, with help from BSNL regional headquarters in Calcutta, launched an inquiry to find whether the India Telecom Cards issued from the local office were being used in other places. The cooperation of regional office helped the probing team to prove that scamsters in the steel city had links with cities outside the state. Sources said it was proved that the ITCs issued from the Jamshedpur office were being used by the STD booths-owners even in metros such as Calcutta and Chennai.

The other cities where ITCs issued from the local office have been used are Patna, Munger, Vishakapatanam, Katihar, Gaya and Muzzafarpur. ?A majority of ITCs are being used by the STD booth-owners. But, he said the department was trying to ascertain the magnitude of ITCs sold to them,? said sources.

A senior official in the BSNL?s Jamshedpur office said, ?It may be that the STD booth operators had bought ITCs through private agency at a concession rate.?

General manager of BSNL?s Jamshedpur circle, P.K. Srivastava said, ?The probe is on. And we are cooperating with the investigating officials.?