CBI again searches Jharkhand Congress lawmaker's home

Ranchi, April 22 (IANS) Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths Sunday searched the house of Congress legislator K.N. Tripathi here for the second consecutive day following horse-trading charges that marred the now-countermanded March 30 Rajya Sabha poll.

"They (CBI) had a search warrant and searched my house," Tripathi told reporters here.

According to sources in CBI, some important documents were seized during the search.

CBI teams Saturday searched Jharkhand houses of Tripathi and his fellow legislators, Suresh Paswan of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Vishnu Bhaiyya of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

According to CBI sources, laptop, computer, bank accounts and cash were seized from the houses of the three legislators.

The house of industrialist R.K. Agarwal, who was one of the independent candidates in the Rajya Sabha poll, was also raided Saturday.

The CBI has registered an FIR after the Jharkhand High Court, hearing a petition related to the case, asked the Election Commission to get the horse-trading charges probed by the central agency.

The Election Commission will hold a fresh poll May 3 for the two Rajya Sabha seats from the state after countermanding the March 30 election marred by corruption charges and allegations that some candidates had indulged in unfair means and horse-trading to enter the upper house.

The poll was countermanded after Rs.2.15 crore in cash was seized from a car belonging to a candidate's brother.