Madhu Koda and wife Geeta arrive in the Assembly to cast their votes during the presidential polls on Thursday

Ranchi, July 20: Madhu Koda, the man at the centre of a Rs 2,000 crore mining and power scam, has urged the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to split his cases and ensure speedy trial to deliver him justice.

The former chief minister questioned the motive of the probe agencies for keeping him in jail for over two years. Koda has been lodged at Birsa Munda jail as an undertrial since November 2009.

“If the accused in the 2G spectrum scam involving Rs 1,76,000 crore could get bail, why can’t I? More so when the agencies have so far failed to prove any of the charges against me. I am nor a rapist and a murderer neither a Kasab,” he told The Telegraph in an exclusive chat yesterday on the Assembly premises, where he had come to cast his vote in the presidential elections.

Koda has four cases of corruption worth over Rs 2,000 crore against him. The CBI has filed a preliminary charge sheet against him along with Vinod Sinha and Sanjay Chaudhary in a disproportionate assets case in 2010. The CBI has said that Chaudhary, a co-accused, is still absconding and holding up the legal process.

The ED has also failed to track seven other co-accused.

One of them, Anil Bastawade, a conduit allegedly used by Koda to channel funds and against whom an arrest warrant is pending, was traced by a television news channel to Indonesia.

Apart from Bastawade, the six others who are yet to submit to the process of law are Rohitas Krishnan, Saubhik Chattopadhyay, Manoj Kumar Sinha, A.A. Bafna, Sanjay Chaudhary and Dhananjay Chaudhary.

“I am not responsible if they are absconding. It is the job of the police to nab them. I can’t work for the police. I am ready to face trial, but the investigating agency should complete their job within a time-limit,” Koda maintained.

Koda pointed out that the CBI and ED had charged him with owning a resort in Lakshadweep, maintaining bank accounts in Canada, France, London, owning mines in Liberia and having stakes in real estate. They had not been able to prove any of the charges, he added.

“To top it all, the income tax (IT) department last year assessed my unaccountable income to be around Rs 6,500 crore and asked me to pay around Rs 1,300 crore as tax. It has made me a protective assessee and not a substantive assessee, meaning thereby that they have not established that the properties unearthed by them belonged to me,” Koda said.

The former chief minister said that the IT central circle (Jamshedpur) did not give him adequate time to reply to the questionnaire it furnished before issuing the assessment notice.

“It was because since the very beginning the IT authorities have been claiming that I had siphoned of Rs 4,000 crore. So, in order to establish their claim, they assessed my income to be of very high volume. I have challenged the assessment order in the IT appellate tribunal,” he said. “Have they identified and arrested those persons who bribed me Rs 4,000 crore?” he asked.

Koda also wants the IT to auction off all the properties to realise tax liabilities. He had been charged with an economic offence, Koda argued.

“So, even if I am convicted, I will get seven years’ imprisonment. I have already served almost half my sentence without conviction. However, I have faith in judiciary and hope to get justice. But it would have been better had it been on time,” he rued.

Koda slammed the investigating agencies for piling on his miseries.

“Suppose I am acquitted, will the CBI compensate me for my days of torment in jail? I have earned diseases like diabetes, spondylitis and blood pressure after I was put behind bars. I have not been able to take care of my daughter, who was just one and half years old when I was arrested,” he said.

The Independent MP, who was booked when Jharkhand was under President’s rule, however, said he had no complaints against the Congress and nor did he expect the party to bail him out.

“I have been trapped in legal cases and will get justice from the court only,” he explained.

Avowing his allegiance to the Congress, he added, “I, along with my wife, have been favouring the Congress on every issue, as it is the only alternative in the country while the BJP is besieged with a fight over leadership.”

He, however, ducked the question if he bribed the top Congress and RJD leaders to stay in power.

“I should not indulge in mud-slinging. But tell me which party is clean?” he giggled.