The sleuths of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Dhanbad raided the residence of former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Satyanarayan Jatiya in 74 bungalow locality on Tuesday.
The BJP said that a raid on Jatiya's house was part of the Centre's conspiracy to defame the political leader in fray for Rajya Sabha election. Official sources said the raid was in connection with an alleged scam in recruitment at Bokaro Steel Plant (BSl). The CBI is investigating his son Rajkumar's alleged involvement in the recruitment scam reported in 2008. Notably, Jatiya is BJP's nominee for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha election. Soon after the raid, Jatiya appeared at the State BJP headquarters for clarifying his point over the issue to State BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar and other senior party leaders. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also held close-door meeting with Jatiya after the raids.
After meeting the senior party leaders Jatiya while talking to the mediapersons said that no fraud was committed in the appointment of his son. "My son was selected on the basis of his merits and by completing all necessary formalities. No norms were violated," Jatiya told. State BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar alleged that it was nothing more than an old strategy of using CBI, many candidates were selected in stark defiance of set norms.
This raid was followed by search operations at nine cities across the country in connection with a major scam pertaining to recruitments at BSl, a unit of the Steel Authority of India limited (SAIl), in 2008, said sources. The CBI has registered a case against 20 people allegedly involved in the fraud. Raids are being carried out at Ranchi, Patna, Bokaro, Bhubneswar, Bhopal, Mumbai and NCR. Jatiya's residential premise was searched for around two hours.