A special CBI court on Friday brought a long-awaited conclusion to a nearly three-decade-old corruption case, convicting four individuals including a transporter and petroleum company officials for their roles in the infamous Bihar-Jharkhand bitumen scam, people familiar of the development said.
Special judge Yogesh Kumar (CBI-1, Ranchi) handed down a three-year prison sentence and imposed ₹9 lakh fines each on primary transporter Vinay Kumar Sinha, along with three others: Ashish Maitey, Raj Kumar Roy, and Ranjan Pradhan. Meanwhile, citing a lack of evidence, the court acquitted three former officials, SK Das, SM Aurangzeb, and NC Prasad.
The case dates back to 1997, focusing on the fraudulent misappropriation of road-surfacing material (bitumen) intended for national highway at Barhi. The investigation centered on three specific supply orders from Haldia refinery involving both Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL).
According to the prosecution, the criminal conspiracy involved “uplifting” large quantities of bitumen that never reached its final destination. Evidence presented in court highlighted three major discrepancies: Order 3500 (491 MT was uplifted; only 431 MT delivered), Order 3203 (195.45 MT was uplifted; only 146 MT delivered) and Order 4796 (541 MT was uplifted; only 505 MT delivered).
The court found that the transporter was required to transport the bitumen from Haldia to NH Barhi via Barauni for mandatory reporting. However, the tankers never reported at Barauni checkpoint. Instead, the accused allegedly diverted the bitumen to the open market for illegal sale and subsequently submitted forged documents to claim false carriage charges from the state exchequer.
{{/usCountry}}The court found that the transporter was required to transport the bitumen from Haldia to NH Barhi via Barauni for mandatory reporting. However, the tankers never reported at Barauni checkpoint. Instead, the accused allegedly diverted the bitumen to the open market for illegal sale and subsequently submitted forged documents to claim false carriage charges from the state exchequer.
{{/usCountry}}Two other accused, Md Ishhaq and BP Gupta, passed away during the protracted trial, leading to the abatement of proceedings against them.
The scam remains one of the most significant corruption probes in the region’s history, involving the systemic theft of resources meant for public infrastructure development in the late 1990s.
A CBI court advocate said n the specific case corresponding to RC-12(A)/1997-D the primary misappropriation involved approximately ₹18.50 lakh to ₹27.60 lakh.
“While this particular judgment focused on specific supply orders, it is part of the broader bitumen scam of the late 1990s, which is estimated to have siphoned off nearly ₹200 crore from the state exchequer of undivided Bihar,” the advocate said.