As a part of investigations into allegations of horse-trading during the March 30 Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday conducted fresh searches in 35 places, which include the residences of 15 MLAs.A 36-member CBI team conducted searches at the residences of MLAs in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Hazaribagh, Godda, Bihar's Banka district and Giridih, a CBI official said.
The CBI seized several documents and crores of unaccounted money from the residences of these MLAs, according to the agency.
Among those whose residences where the CBI conducted searches were RJD MLAs Sanjay Prasad Yadav, Janardhan Paswan and Sanjay Kumar Singh Yadav; JDU MLA Sudha Choudhary; AJSU MLAs Ram Chandra Sahis, Umakant Razzak and Kamal Kishore Bhagat; JMM MLA Paulis Surin; BJP MLAs Arun Mandal and Ramchandra Baitha; Congress MLAs Saurav Narayan Singh, Anant Pratap Deo and Sarafaraz Ahmed; Independent candidate Pawan Kumar Dhoot, the official said.
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On April 21, the CBI conducted a search at the residences of MLAs K.N. Tripathi (Congress), Suresh Paswan (RJD) and Vishnu Bhaiya (JMM).
A case has been registered under Sections 177F and 188 under the Indian Penal Code. These apply to disobeying the order of the authority during an election. It leads to a maximum one year punishment or fine or both.
The CBI filed a First Information Report based on the complaint launched in Ranchi's Namkoum police station on the recovery of Rs. 2.15 crore from a car. Following this, the poll, which was to be conducted on March 30, was postponed. Earlier, the CBI seized the ballot box that was used in the March 30 countermanded RS polls during the investigation.
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