Multi-crore electrification scam: FIR against Koda

Yet another FIR has been filed against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and 28 others by the Vigilance Bureau, accusing them of forgery and criminal conspiracy while awarding contracts to a Hyderbad-based company for rural electrification.

The Vigilance Bureau filed the FIR on Monday against Koda, Rashtriya Janata Dal leaders Girinath Singh and Prakash Ram, three former chairmen of Jharkhand State Electricity Board and others, Inspector General of Police M V Rao, said in Ranchi on Tuesday.

The RJD was one of the parties which had supported Kodas 23-month-old government from outside.

The FIR charged them with accepting bribes and other financial irregularities while awarding rural electrification contract to a Hyderabad-based company to the tune of Rs 467.12 crore under the rural electrification scheme in Palamau, Garhwa and Latehar.

Binod Sinha, a close aide of Koda, was also named in the FIR. Sinha has been absconding ever since the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax department carried out raids in 70 places, inlcuding Koda's premises, on October 31 last year.

Koda has been in judicial custody in connection with hawala charges and illegal investments. The vigilance bureau registered the FIR under IPC sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 423 (fraudulent execution), 467/468 (forgery and forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120b (criminal conspiracy).