The Central Bureau of investigation (CBI) today carried out searches at six locations in Jharkhand and Bihar including residences of three MLAs and an industrialist for alleged corruption and horse-trading during the recent Rajya Sabha elections.
CBI sources said a case has been registered under section 171F and 188 of the Indian Penal Code.
CBI teams swooped down on the premises of three MLAs — K. N. Tripathi (Congress) at Palamau, Suresh Paswan (RJD) at Deogarh and Vishnu Bhaiyya (BJP) at Jamtara — and industrialist R. K. Agarwal, who was one of the independent candidates in the recent Rajya Sabha elections, they said.
The election held on March 30 was countermanded following allegations that certain candidates were trying to reach the Upper House through horse-trading.
They said searches were going on at the premises of Mr. Agarwal and his son-in-law Soumitra Saha in Jamshedpur and his relative R.K. Saha in Chaibasa.
Mr. Agarwal is the president of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce.
The CBI registered the case after obtaining the original FIR registered with the Namkum police station following the recovery of Rs 2.15 crore from a vehicle on poll day. The cash was seized allegedly from the vehicle registered in the name of Mr. Agarwal’s brother, Suresh, according to the FIR.
Section 171F deals with “undue influence or personation” at an election with a maximum punishment of one year or fine or both while Sec 188 deals with punishment of six months imprisonment, or fine of 1,000 rupees, or both for disobeying orders of an authority.
