CBI to HC: No evidence against Nitish in fodder scam

Ranchi: CBI today informed the Jharkhand High Court that it did not find any evidence against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and JD-U leader Shivanand Tiwari in the Rs 950 crore fodder scam. Responding to the directive by the court of Justice RR Prasad on September 20 to file a counter-affidavit on a writ petition seeking to make Kumar and Tiwari accused in the scam, the CBI contended that it did not find any evidence against them to proceed further. In its brief reply, the agency cited how the petitioner’s plea, raising the same matter, had even been rejected a couple of times in the lower courts. [caption id=“attachment_1244843” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official gestures during a raid on in New Delhi. Reuters[/caption] The CBI had planned to file the counter-affidavit in the last week of September, but filed it today. “We have filed a short reply with the permission of HO (Head Office),” a senior CBI officer told PTI here. The court directed the petitioner to place any evidence he had before it on December 13. The CBI’s reply came after petitioner Mithilesh Kumar Singh filed a public interest litigation urging the court to make Kumar and Tiwari accused in the Animal Husbandry Department scam alleging that they had been paid money. The petitioner had moved the high court after a lower court rejected his PIL about three months ago. PTI