Fodder scam fed Mohra film financing
MANOJ PRASAD

RANCHI, MAY 7: If the Income-Tax department is to be believed, fodder scam money went into the Bollywood blockbuster, Mohra

.

The Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Raveena Tandon and Naseeruddin Shah-starrer, produced by Rajiv Rai and his father Gulshan Rai, was distributed in Bihar and Utter Pradesh by Kumar Films Private Ltd (KFPL).

KFPL is owned by Rajesh Kumar and his brother Kamlesh Kumar, whose father Krishna Mohan Prasad is the prime accused in the multi-crore fodder scam case RC/20 in which 25 persons, including the late Shyam Behari Sinha and Laloo Prasad Yadav are the co-accused. Krishna Mohan Prasad is presently in Patna's Beur jail.

The Income-Tax department reportedly conducted simultaneous raids at the residential and business premises of Prasad, his brother B.B. Prasad, Rajesh and Kamlesh in Ranchi, Patna, Bangalore and Mumbai yesterday and seized several incriminating documents. According to a local newspaper report, I-T sources claimed to have gathered ``clinching evidence'' to prove that Rajesh, Kamlesh and Prasad had transacted money with the Rais.

The documents seized from Prasad's residence in Ranchi showed that big sums were invested in films like Mohra

and also remitted to film stars such as Ajay Devgan and Mamta Kulkarni, Prabhat Khabar

reported today quoting I-T Director, Investigation, Jagdish Jha. The report was vetted by I-T sources.

An Income-Tax Assistant Commissioner, who led the raid, said they were yet to compile the figures on the amounts allegedly pumped in Mohra

and paid to Devgan and Kulkarni. He said these seemed to ranged in eight digits.

The KFPL's office located in Flat No. 404 at Gagan Apartments, Kamlesh's house in city on Boring Road, Rajesh's 12, Royal Accord Apartment at Mumbai's Lokhandwalla Complex, Prasad's Ranchi residence in Ashok Nagar and their 114 [E] Embassy Apartment Flat on Ali Aska Road in Bangalore have been sealed by the I-T Department.

IT sources maintain that papers regarding a gold bond of 6.9kg and imported `gift' items worth Rs 81 lakh were seized from Prasad's Ranchi residence. In addition, a set of papers seized reportedly establish that Rajesh and Kamlesh had purchased a palatial house in Mumbai worth 1.5 crore and had a deposit of Rs 8.32 lakh in one of their bank accounts.

Among the seizures made by the I-T Department are several correspondences between Prasad and R.K. Rana, former RJD MLA and an associate of Laloo Prasad.