NEW DELHI, May 1: The CBI today filed in the Patna High Court a progress report in the Rs 950 crore fodder scam and an affidavit on the details of the ``confusions'' arising out of a ``conspiracy angle'' of the fraud allegedly involving two politicians - Janata Dal MLA, RK Rana and suspended BJP legislator, Dhruv Bhagat.

In an affidavit, the CBI attempted to clear ``confusions'' raised by the monitoring court in connection with a "conspiracy angle" case under (RC 33) (A/96) of the scam. ``There was no malafide on part of the CBI to delay prosecution in the particular case involving the two politicians (Rana and Bhagat),'' the affidavit said.

The affidavit also clarified as to what had prompted the CBI director, Joginder Singh, to subsequently instruct the Joint Director (east), UN Biswas to withhold prosecution in the case even after giving sanction on March 9.

Interestingly Singh blamed the media for the mess and humilitation he suffered at the High Court. Earlier Singh had stated that he had granted permission to file chargesheet before sending the case to the Attorney General. Today's affidavit clarified that he had decided to forward the case to the Attorney General before giving sanction. He blamed his stenographer and attributed ``clerical mistake'' as the main reason for presenting a misleading picture before the court. The CBI is likely to approach Governor AR Kidwai for granting permission for the prosecution of the accused persons

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.