Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's high-profile brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal member of Parliament, has refuted his involvement in the multi-crore flood relief scam and said he will reply to the Vigilance Department notice soon.
Yadav, the brother of Rabri Devi, the leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, said on Wednesday that allegations against his involvement in the flood relief scam were basesless and far from the truth .
The Cabinet Vigilance Department, on Tuesday, served a show cause notice to Yadav, who had allegedly received Rs 6 lakh in illegal gratification in a case related to the flood relief scam. "I will look into the notice, consult legal experts and reply soon," he said.
The Vigilance notice has asked him to explain the transfer of Rs 6 lakh to his bank account by Santosh Jha, the key accused in the multi-crore scam.
The Vigilance Department is currently investigating the Rs 14 crore flood relief scam that eventually resulted in the arrests of several key accused, including Jha and Gautam Goswami, the former district magistrate of Patna, Additional Director General Neelmani said.
"During the course of investigation and our talks with other accused, the Bureau has detected transfer of Rs. 6 lakh by Santosh Jha to Sadhu Yadav's State Bank of India account last January," Neelmani said, adding he had instructed the Superintendent of Police (Vigilance) to send a notice to Yadav, asking him to explain the transfer within a given time frame.
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