Jharkhand asked to give security to Koda scam petitioner

RANCHI - The Jharkhand High Court Monday directed the state government to provide security to Durga Oraon on whose public interest litigation (PIL) a probe was ordered into the multi-crore-rupee scam allegedly involving former chief minister Madhu Koda.

A division bench of Chief Justice Bhagawati Prasad asked the Jharkhand government to provide full security cover to Oraon. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Monday presented Oraon before the court.

The Jharkhand High Court Aug 31 directed the CBI to trace and bring Oraon before the court as the state police had failed to do so. Oraon had filed the PIL and sought a CBI probe in the assets of Koda and five former ministers.

The high court Aug 4 ordered a CBI probe against Koda, who was the chief minister between 2006-08, and five former ministers for amassing assets more than their known sources of income. It asked Oraon’s lawyer to bring him before the court.

When the lawyer failed, the court directed the state police to present him Aug 31. When police too failed to doso, the CBI was directed to trace and bring him before the court.

Koda and three of his former ministerial colleagues - Enos Ekka, Harinarayan Rai and Kamlesh Singh - are in jail in the graft case. They were arrested by the vigilance bureau last year. The vigilance bureau has filed a charge sheet against them.