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Bihar minister, officials arrested in bitumen scandal

Bihar Road Construction Minister Mohammed Ilyas Hussain, Shobha Sinha, an official of the road construction department, and four transporters were arrested today by the Central Bureau of Investigation after day-long searches at their residences in Patna in connection with the so-called bitumen scandal.

CBI sources in New Delhi said the raids were conducted at the residences of 25 people, including some officials of the road construction department and some transporters.

The other officials whose residences were raided by the investigating agency include Mohammed Shahabuddin Beg, former personal secretary to the minister, Dhyaneshwar, former engineering chief of the RCD, Kedar Paswan, former deputy director, purchases and transport, and Mujtaba Ahmed, executive engineer (design), RCD.

The four transporters arrested are K K Kedia, V K Sinha, J P Aggarwal and S K Parikh. Other transporters whose residences were raided were D N Singh, Pawan Aggarwal and Biplab Kumar Dass.

Later in the night, Chief Minister Rabri Devi sacked Hussain from her Cabinet.

UNI

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