Ranchi, June 8: JMM legislator Sita Soren's father B.N. Majhi, wanted in the 2012 Rajya Sabha cash-for-vote scam, was arrested by the CBI in a dramatic swoop on his Bhubaneswar residence in Odisha this morning.
The arrest, which comes exactly two years four days after the CBI filed chargesheet in the case on June 4, 2013, naming Sita and five others, including Majhi and two businessmen who were contesting the polls as Independent candidates, is a big breakthrough. The investigating agency will now be in a position to frame charges against 63-year-old Majhi, who is alleged to have played a key role in the money muddle involving his daughter.
Sita, daughter-in-law of JMM patriarch and former chief minister Shibu Soren, is alleged to have received Rs 1.5 crore in two instalments from Jamshedpur-based businessman R.K. Agrawal to propose his candidature in the 2012 Rajya Sabha poll and vote in his favour.
The election was eventually countermanded.
Confirming the arrest, CBI spokesperson at the central headquarters in Delhi Dharni Mishra said: "One of the accused in the 2012 Rajya Sabha horse-trading case, B.N. Majhi, has been arrested from Old Town area of Bhubaneswar, where his family is currently staying."
Speaking to The Telegraph in the morning, a senior CBI officer coordinating the entire operation said: "Majhi is the only accused in this case who foxed us enough in the past two years. He is expected to be brought to Ranchi on transit remand by late evening after being produced at a local court in Bhubaneswar."
A retired Indian Oil Corporation Limited official who was posted in Odisha for the greater part of his career, Majhi, facing a permanent arrest warrant issued by a CBI court in Ranchi, tried to tough talk his way out of the CBI trap when a team of six sleuths turned up at his Old Town residence this morning.
"He was enjoying his morning tea when the six CBI officers landed at his residence. Caught off guard as he used to frequently change his addresses to hoodwink the CBI, Majhi entered into a heated debate with the officers, demanding to see their identity cards and his arrest warrant. Undeterred, the sleuths whisked him away to its anti-corruption branch at Nayapally in Bhubaneswar, where he was interrogated for an hour and examined by government doctors," said a source.
So far, the CBI court where the cash-for-vote trial is going on has not been able to frame charges against Majhi - who started managing Sita's finances and political affairs after the death of her husband Durga Soren in May 2009 and had allegedly influenced her to take bribe - as he was absconding.
Under the CrPC, charges can be framed against an accused only if he or she is present at the court.
Now, a separate trial will be initiated against Majhi, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Odisha Assembly elections from Rairangpur constituency as an Independent candidate.
"Majhi had done the cash negotiations on behalf of his daughter and also handled the money she received from Agrawal. During raids at his Baripada residence (also in Odisha) in 2012, we recovered fixed deposit papers worth Rs 40 lakh and other investments. These were a part of the bribe that he and Sita received from the Independent candidate before the polls," said a CBI officer in Ranchi.
The CBI chargesheet also names Agrawal, Sita's aide Rajendra Mandal, Calcutta-based real estate developer Pawan Kumar Dhoot (also as Independent candidate) and Dhoot's election agent S.K. Maheshwari.
The three top witnesses in the case, Bikas Pandey, Bikas Singh and Jayakant - all former private staff of Sita - also claimed before the investigating agency that Majhi had taken a part of the money to Odisha. Majhi and his daughter are also accused in the Bikas Pandey abduction case being investigated by the CBI.
