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Journalism of Courage
With the former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda managing to get bail in four out five cases booked against him,there seems to a palpable excitement among his supporters. His wife,Geeta Koda,an independent MLA from West Singhbhum,is likely to play a key role in government formation if the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha JMM and the Congress join hands. There has been even talks of her being made a minister in that event.
On Tuesday,Madhu Koda,an independent MP from Singhbhum,had secured a bail from the Jharkhand High Court in a tax evasion case in which it is alleged that he did not file his IT returns from 2004 to 2010.
Koda obtained his first bail from the high court on April 5,2012,in a case filed by the CBI. The agency had claimed that his representatives had allegedly received Rs 13 crore as kickbacks for allotting mining leases to Core Steel.
When the vigilance department investigated it,it was a disproportionate assets case. The CBI has since dropped the DA part and now the charges related to the Prevention of Corruption Act, said Bishwajeet Mukherjee,who represents Koda in the high court. He said the firm was never granted a mining licence.
The final hurdle is the case relating to alleged corruption in the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Scheme in Dumka and Palamu districts. Hyderabad-based IVRCL Infrastructure is alleged to have paid Vinod Sinha,an alleged representative of Koda,Rs 11.4 crore to obtain contracts for the Rs 400-crore tender. The next date of hearing of the case is March 20.
