RANCHI: Jharkhand’s former minister Harinarayan Rai was on Wednesday awarded five years’ imprisonment in a disproportionate assets (DA) case by a special CBI court. His wife Sushila Devi and brother Sanjay Rai were alos awarded five years in jail in the same case. The three convicts were taken to Birsa Munda Central Jail in Jharkhand capital Ranchi soon after the sentence was pronounced.
The CBI had lodged an FIR against Rai and filed a chargesheet in 2010. The CBI discovered that Rai had amassed wealth of around Rs 1.5 crore more than his known sources of income. Rai was one of the three Independent legislators who had toppled the BJP government led by Arjun Munda in 2006. Rai was a minister from 2005 to 2009 in three governments led by Arjun Munda, Madhu Koda and Shibu Soren.
Rai said : “I have faith in judiciary and will appeal in the high court.”