NEW DELHI: Ending a quarter-century-long game of hide-and-seek, CBI has arrested Satyendra Kumar, a key fugitive wanted in connection with Bihar’s infamous Fodder scam. The suspect had fled to Nepal and was tracked down during a train journey he took upon returning to India, the agency said.Acting on court orders, CBI had undertaken the probe into the multi-crore corruption scam involving the systematic embezzlement of funds from the Animal Husbandry Department in Bihar during the 1990s. High-profile political figures, including former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, along with several senior bureaucrats and suppliers, have since been convicted in multiple cases related to illegal treasury withdrawals. The agency had filed dozens of FIRs to untangle a nexus of politicians, bureaucrats, suppliers and middlemen who siphoned off public funds through fake invoices for cattle feed, medicines and equipment.Kumar, alleged to be a supplier, had been on the run since 2001, vanishing into the shadows immediately after the agency filed its charge sheet in the case. His persistent failure to face trial prompted the court to issue an arrest warrant and declare him an absconder, cementing his status as one of the scam’s most elusive figures.
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It was a to a manhunt that spanned more than two decades across international borders. For over 25 years, Kumar managed to evade the law by taking refuge across the border in Nepal living under an assumed identity. However, the net slowly began to tighten as CBI officials mounted human and technical surveillance to pinpoint his exact movements.The breakthrough came when intelligence revealed that Kumar had re-entered India and was travelling by train from Guna, Madhya Pradesh, to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Acting swiftly on the input, a team was tasked with intercepting the fugitive mid-transit. Units were deployed across Lucknow Railway Station well before the train arrived. Around midnight on Oct 22, the CBI managed to take the accused into custody and placed him under arrest. He was taken to Ranchi on transit remand, where he will finally be produced before the court to face trial.
