Binod Sinha, a co-accused in the Rs. 4,000 crore money laundering scam and illegal investment cases with the former Jharkhand Chief Minister, Madhu Koda, appeared in the CBI special court in Ranchi on Saturday.
Sinha was arrested from a farmhouse in the Mehrauli area of south Delhi by the CBI on Thursday and was brought to Jharkhand. On August 11, after the agency was directed by the Jharkhand High Court to probe the case, the CBI filed FIRs against Sinha and another Koda associate, Sanjay Chowdhary, and also lodged separate FIRs against six of his former Cabinet members in a special CBI court.
According to the CBI, “Sinha is a businessman who manages wealth acquired by the former chief minister. He has been charged with investing money on behalf of Koda in India and West Asia, including UAE and other countries, by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).”
Sinha is alleged to have acquired large number of properties and companies. He also played a major role in routing the wealth of the former Chief Minister and purchased a number of illegal properties.
Investigation against Koda and his former Cabinet colleagues, including Harinarayan Rai, Anosh Ekka, Dulal Bhuiyan, Chandra Prakash Choudhary, Kamlesh Singh, Bhanu Pratap Sahi and Bandhu Tirkey are in progress. The Income Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate are separately investigating alleged illegal investment and havala transactions against Koda and others.
“The vigilance court of Ranchi had also issued an arrest warrant against him in February 2007, which remained unexecuted as he had been evading various law enforcement agencies for several months,” said a senior CBI official. According to official sources, 15 SIM cards and some documents have been recovered from his possession. The CBI plans to keep him in custody for three days.
