Koda fears for his life, plays tribal card

RANCHI: Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, who is at the centre of a Rs 2,500-crore money laundering scam, left for his native village in Patahatu on Friday after income-tax officials gave him a break from the four-day interrogation that began on Tuesday.

Playing the tribal card, he said: "There is a threat to my life. There is a conspiracy to annihilate me. I know who are doing all this. Whatever is published in the media is baseless. I am being harassed as I am a tribal belonging to a poor family."

The former chief minister left Ranchi after seeking a written permission from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) saying his mother was not well and also to monitor poll preparations in the Kolhan region, where six of his supporters will be in the poll fray as Independents. He, however, did not wait for ED's confirmation for leaving his residence.

The ED has postponed the date for Koda's interrogation from November 15 to 19 following a request from him, sources said. The interrogations will be held in Ranchi and not Delhi as proposed earlier.

Koda slipped to Chaibasa quietly on Friday afternoon and spoke to the media only after reaching his home constituency. Claiming innocence, he described the entire episode of I-T and ED raids as a political farce and said he was deliberately being prevented from meeting his workers before polls.

"I have written a letter to the ED and I-T officials informing them about my plan to stay in home constituency and monitor election preparations. But I came here before getting a reply to avoid any further delay," he said.