Horse trading: Premises of 14 Jharkhand MLAs raided

Ranchi, May 18 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday conducted raids at the premises of 14 Jharkhand legislators, including Labour Minister Chandra Prakash Chaudhary, as part of its probe into alleged horse trading in the March 30 Rajya Sabha elections, CBI sources said.

According to the sources, the raids took place at the premises of Saurabh Narayan Singh, Aanant Pratap Deo and Sarfaraz Ahmad of the Congress; Chandra Prakash Chaudhary and Uma Kant Razak of the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU); Sanjay Yadav of the RJD; Sita Soren and Polush Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM); Ramchandra Baitha of the BJP, besides some other legislators.

The raids were mainly conducted in Ranchi, Bokaro, Ramgarh, Hazaribgh and Godda.

The March 30 Rajya Sabha polls were countermanded after Rs.2.15 crore in cash was seized from the vehicle of a relative of an independent candidate on the outskirts of Ranchi. Fresh elections were held May 3.

The CBI raids, according to sources, are based on the March 30 ballot boxes counted by the CBI. These legislators are said to have crossed their party line to vote in the Rajya Sabha poll.