Lucknow/New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Satyendra Kumar, a proclaimed offender in a fodder scam case, ending a manhunt that lasted more than two and a half decades.
The accused, who had been on the run since the charge sheet was filed against him in 2001, was apprehended at Lucknow Railway Station around midnight on October 22.
According to the CBI, Satyendra Kumar absconded soon after the charge sheet was filed in court. As he repeatedly failed to appear for trial, the court issued a permanent warrant of arrest against him.
For over 25 years, the agency continued efforts to locate the absconder through sustained physical and technical surveillance, combined with human intelligence inputs. These efforts eventually led investigators to Nepal, where the accused had been staying. Recently, Satyendra Kumar entered India and boarded a train from Guna in Madhya Pradesh bound for Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh on October 22.
Acting on specific intelligence about his movement, the CBI constituted a dedicated team and deployed it at Lucknow Railway Station well before the arrival of the train. As the train reached the station around midnight, the team successfully identified and apprehended the accused. He was formally arrested and is now being brought to Ranchi on transit remand for production before the competent court to face trial in the long-pending case.
The fodder scam, one of the major corruption cases investigated by the CBI, involved large-scale embezzlement of public funds in the animal husbandry department of Bihar and Jharkhand. Several accused were charge-sheeted in the early 2000s, but some, including Satyendra Kumar, managed to evade arrest for years.
Officials said the arrest was a result of the agency’s persistence in pursuing long-pending cases and bringing absconders to justice, irrespective of the time elapsed. The accused will now face the legal process that was delayed for more than a quarter of a century.
–IANS
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