CBI books former Odisha MP Renubala in LTC scam; she pleads ignorance

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury (with inputs from Delhi OST Bureau)

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi, June 13

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)  booked six Rajya Sabha MPs including former Odisha BJD MP Renu Bala Pradhan for cheating and forgery in the Leave and Travel Concession (LTC) scam on Friday.

Renubala Pradhan
Renubala Pradhan

The national investigating agency is conducting a search operation in the house of Ms Pradhan in New Delhi and Odisha to collect evidence in the case, said sources.

This is the first time that a case has been filed in the scam.

Reacting to the development the former BJD Rajya Sabha MP Ms Pradhan said she had absolutely no idea about the matter. ” I will meet the CBI officials in Delhi to find out what it is all about,” she told a local news channel.

Three sitting and three former Rajya Sabha MPs have been booked under sections 420 and 13 (1)D.

The sitting MPs are D Bandopadhyay (TMC), Brijesh Pathak (BSP), Lal Ming Liana (MPF) while the former MPs are JPN Singh (BJP), Mehmood A Madni (RLD) and Renubala Pradhan.

Lakhs of rupees are said to have been fraudulently claimed from the government through fake Leave Travel Concession (LTC) claims, availed by government officials to get concessional tickets.

The incident came to light after the vigilance department of Air India (AI) was alerted about the arrest of a man in March at the Kolkata airport with 600 blank boarding passes of the airline in his possession.

According to sources in the CBI, searches were conducted at nine places in Delhi and one place in Odisha including at the premises of three travel agents in Delhi and office premises of the MPs.

“Some Incriminating documents have been recovered during the searches,” the official said.

The accused have been booked under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of Indian Penal Code and 13(2) and 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act.

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