Bitumen scam: CBI court convicts ex-Bihar minister, 4 others  

A special CBI court in Ranchi on Saturday convicted former Bihar Minister Md. Illiyas Hussain and four others in connection with the 27-year-old bitumen transportation scam case, officials said.

The court sentenced the former minister, his then Secretary Shahabuddin Baigh and three others—Pawan Kumar Agarwal, Ashok Kumar Agarwal and Vinay Kumar Sinha—to three years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 32 lakh on each of them, they said.

The officials said the case related to alleged transportation of bitumen from Haldia to RCD Hazaribagh via Barauni.

“The investigation revealed that no bitumen was transported at all. The transporter uplifted bitumen from Haldia and sold it in the open market in Kolkata and also claimed transportation charges,” an official said.

The CBI had registered the FIR in this case in 1997 and filed its chargesheet in 2001, officials said.