Patna High Court seeks status of probe in soil purchase scam

PATNA: The Patna High Court today sought an inquiry status report from the Bihar government in the " soil purchase scam" allegedly involving RJD chief Lalu Prasad's son and former environment and forest minister Tej Pratap Yadav.

A division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A K Upadhyay passed the order while hearing a PIL filed by advocate R S Singh Sengar.

The court fixed the next hearing in the matter after six weeks.

The petitioner had complained of gross irregularities in the purchase of soil worth Rs 90 lakh for the beautification of the Patna zoo.

He also alleged that the soil used for the beautification project was sourced from the construction site of a mall that belonged to the RJD president and his family.

The former environment minister came in the eye of the storm when the matter came to light. After the scam was reported in the media, senior Bihar BJP leader and present deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi demanded an inquiry into the matter.