Renubala Pradhan pleads ignorance in LTC scam, to meet CBI authorities

BHUBANESWAR: Pleading ignorance in the LTC scam, former BJD Rajya Sabha member Renubala Pradhan today said she would on Monday meet the authorities of CBI, which named her an accused, on Monday.

"I don't know anything about the LTC scam. I am going to Delhi on Sunday and meet the CBI authorities on Monday, " Renubala Pradhan told reporters here.

Asked about the CBI searches at her premises here during the day, she said "CBI sleuths had come to the residence of my cousin in Bhubaneswar".

Pradhan claimed that she had never received any notice from the central agency regarding the scam. "They (CBI sleuths) have also not come to my house. It is a fact that I some time visit my cousin's house in Bhubaneswar."

The former MP said she had never committed any illegality during her tenure in Rajya Sabha from April 3, 2008 to April 2, 2014 and had paid all pending bills before leaving Delhi.

Pradhan's name is among the six MPs, three sitting and three former, against whose names the CBI has registered cases in connection with the LTC scam in which travel reimbursement was allegedly claimed by them through purportedly forged bills.

The scam came to light after the vigilance department of Air India ( AI) was alerted about the arrest of a man at Kolkata airport in March last year with 600 blank boarding passes of the airline in his possession.