Fodder Scam Accused Held During Train Journey by CBI

New Delhi, October 23: The Central Bureau of Investigation has made a major breakthrough in a fodder scam case by arresting Satyendra Kumar, who had been declared a wanted offender.

After a chargesheet was filed in 2001, Kumar fled and remained absconding. The CBI pursued him for over 25 years. When he failed to appear in court for trial, a permanent arrest warrant was issued against him.

Relentless physical and technical surveillance, combined with human intelligence, revealed that Kumar was in Nepal. He had recently crossed into India, and on Thursday he was travelling by train from Guna in Madhya Pradesh towards Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.

Acting on this information, the CBI put together a special team to intercept him during the journey. The team was positioned at Lucknow railway station ahead of his arrival. Around midnight, the agency's team caught him and then formally arrested him.

In a separate case in Uttar Pradesh, a Lucknow court on Friday held Bocha alias Raju Soni guilty and sentenced him to 10 years in jail and a 9,000 rupee fine. The matter pertains to the culpable homicide of Inspector Anil Kumar, then SHO of Pratapgarh's Kotwali police station, on November 19, 2015.

The CBI registered the case on June 29, 2018, after taking over the probe from Kotwali police station under an order of the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench. The killing occurred at the model shop of Hotel Vaishnavi in Pratapgarh. Kumar was suspended later.

The agency filed a chargesheet against Jeeshan Khan and Bocha alias Raju Soni after completing the investigation. Charges were framed on December 14, 2022.