The CBI on Monday arrested father of former Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren’s daughter-in-law from an apartment in Bhubaneswar over his alleged role in the horse-trading during the 2012 Rajya Sabha election. Bada Naran Majhi (62), who was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of CBI’s Ranchi Division, was later produced in the Special CBI court in Bhubaneswar which allowed the agency to take him on a three-day transit remand. In 2012, some Jharkhand MLAs, including Shibu Soren’s daughter-in-law Sita Soren, came under the CBI scanner after they voted against the party line. The polls held in March 2012 were countermanded after cash worth Rs 2.15 crore was seized from the vehicle of a relative of independent candidate and industrialist Rajkumar Agarwal. The Rajya Sabha polls were held afresh on May 3, 2012. Agarwal owns Hi-Tech Industries Pvt Ltd, which manufactures chemicals and is former president of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In February last year, a CBI court framed charges against Agarwal and another industrialist Pawan Dhoot, who were independent candidates in the 2012 polls. Shibu Soren’s daughter-in-law Sita surrendered before a local court here in February last year after CBI booked her in the horse-trading case. Her father Bada Naran Majhi, also an accused, gave CBI the slip in 2012 when they raided his Bhubaneswar apartment. Majhi, who has been staying in Bhubaneswar since 1996, is a retired chief human resource manager of Indian Oil Corporation. He unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Odisha assembly polls as an Independent candidate from the Rairangpur segment of Mayurbhanj district.
