The RJD ‘money men’ under CBI scanner: From party treasurer to medical college owners

Ahmad Ashfaque Karim (60)

Karim, who has been a Rajya Sabha member since March 2018, is an influential leader from Katihar in east Bihar. A successful businessman, the RJD leader is an education entrepreneur and owns, among other things, the Katihar Medical College.

Karim made it big in the education sector. He is the founder chancellor of Al-Karim University in Katihar and is also the managing director of the medical college, which is one of the few private medical institutions in the state.

The 60-year-old began his political innings with Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and went on to serve as its vice president. He unsuccessfully contested the 2010 Assembly polls from Katihar. In 2012, he founded the Kosi Bedari Morcha to fight for the rights of the Kosi and Seemanchal regions of which the districts of Purnia, Katihar, Araria, Kishanganj, Saharsa, Madhepura, and Supaul are a part.

Karim courted controversy in 2013 when the local police conducted raids at his premises based on bribery allegations. The police seized about Rs 2.5 crore in cash and booked him under several IPC sections, including for cheating and criminal conspiracy and also under provisions of the Arms Act and the Prevention of Corruption Act. The following year, the Patna High Court quashed a lower court order taking cognisance in the matter.

As per Karim’s last election affidavit, he and his wife have moveable assets worth over Rs 9 crore and immovable assets worth more than Rs 36 crore.

Faiyaz Ahmad (58)

The RJD leader from Madhubani entered the Rajya Sabha this year. Like Karim, he too owns a private medical college, the Madhubani Medical College and Hospital.

Ahmad has twice represented the constituency of Bisfi in Madhubani district, having won the 2010 and 2015 Assembly polls. According to party insiders, Ahmad’s long association with Lalu Prasad, the community he belongs to, and his high profile in the region helped him edge out other contenders for the Rajya Sabha nomination.

As per Ahmad’s 2022 election affidavit, he and his wife have moveable assets worth more than Rs 2.66 crore and immovable assets worth over Rs 8.5 crore.

Sunil Kumar Singh (53)

An upper-caste Rajput leader from Saran who refers to former CM Rabri Devi as his sister, the RJD treasurer was a strong contender for a ministerial berth but lost out to fellow Rajput leader and party state president Jagdanand Singh’s son Sudhakar Singh, who is now the state agriculture minister.

Sunil Singh, who became MLC in 2020, is a long-time aide of Lalu Prasad. Apart from being in charge of the RJD’s purse strings, he has been the chairperson of the Bihar State Cooperative Marketing Union (BISCOMAUN) for several years. When the RJD was in the Opposition, the MLC was known for his attacks on the Nitish Kumar-led state administration and got into an argument with the CM at least twice in the Council in the past few sessions.

As per his last election affidavit, the RJD treasurer and his wife have moveable and immovable assets worth more than Rs 18 crore. In it, he also mentioned six pending cases against him, including cases of cheating, criminal conspiracy, and economic offence.

Subodh Rai (40)

Rai, according to RJD insiders, is close to Lalu Prasad and assisted the RJD chief when he was in prison in Ranchi. He owns flour mills in Bihar and also has a stake in the liquor trade in Jharkhand. Rai entered the Legislative Council in 2016 but lost the MLC polls from Vaishali in April to a candidate of the National Democratic Alliance.