Another CBI witness on Saturday admitted before the Special CBI Court that he was forcefully made to sign on fake bills related to the fodder supplied for feeding cattle on the expenses from the State Exchequer. Statement of the then Block Animal Husbandry Officer (BAHO) of Bhawnathpur Dhanraj Prasad was recorded in the Court during which RJD Chief and other accused persons, lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail after their conviction in fodder scam case RC47A/96 related to Deoghar Treasury.
Prasad told the Court that he was forcefully made to sign on fake receipts of several thousand quintals of fodder like maize and mineral mixture meant for feeding cattle during the year 93-95 by the then District Animal Husbandry Officer Kameshwar Sahay and Mobile Animal Husbandry Officer Prabhat Kumar.
“I was made to sigh on fake bills of 40,000 quintals of maize and 35000 of peanut flour in 1993-94. Similarly, I had also signed on fake bills of 30,000 quintals of maize and 30,000 quintals of mixed mineral mixture during 1994-95,”
Prasad told the court. Prasad was also cross examined by the defense counsel Prabhat Kumar in this regard.
Kumar said he was telling lie on behest of CBI to which Prasad reiterated that he was 100 per cent true which could be verified with his statement recorded in the court under Section 164. Remarkably, the CBI has produced more than 400 witnesses before the Special CBI Court related to fodder scam case RC47A/96 during which almost all of them have accepted that they were made to sign on fake fodder bills.
Prasad is presently lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail after a special CBI Court of Shiv Pal Singh on January 6, pronounced 3.5 years’ jail and also slapped a fine of Rs 10 lakh for him in fodder scam case RC64A/96, related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89, 4417 lakh from Deoghar Treasury with the help of 6 fake allotment letters during 1991 to 1994.