Lucknow, October 23 — The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Satyendra Kumar, a proclaimed offender in the Bihar-Jharkhand fodder scam cases, at Lucknow railway station just past midnight on October 22, ending a manhunt that had lasted about 25 years, according to a report published on Friday with inputs from the news agency IANS. Hindustan Times also reported the arrest on Friday, describing Kumar as wanted in the Bihar fodder case for 25 years.

Source: TownPost (with IANS inputs)

Kumar had been on the run since a charge sheet was filed against him in 2001. According to the report, he kept skipping trial dates, after which the court declared him a proclaimed offender and issued a permanent arrest warrant against him. The CBI said its teams combined physical surveillance, technical tracking and human intelligence over the years to trace him.

Tracked from Nepal to a Guna–Lucknow train

Investigators traced Kumar to Nepal, where he had allegedly been hiding. He recently crossed back into India and, on October 22, boarded a train from Guna in Madhya Pradesh bound for Lucknow. Acting on specific intelligence about his movements, the CBI formed a dedicated team and deployed it at Lucknow railway station well before the train arrived. When the train rolled in around midnight, the team identified Kumar and took him into custody without incident, the report said.

Kumar is being brought to Ranchi, the Jharkhand capital, on transit remand, where he will face trial in the long-pending case. Several other accused in the fodder scam were charge-sheeted in the early 2000s, and some, like Kumar, evaded arrest for years afterwards, officials said.

The fodder scam background

The fodder scam dates back to the 1990s, when public funds meant for cattle feed in the animal husbandry department of the then undivided Bihar were allegedly siphoned off. Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in November 2000, so cases from that era continue before courts in Jharkhand. Kumar is an accused in his case; the charges against him are allegations that the trial will now decide, and he has not been convicted in it.