Tuesday, May 31 2005 16:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Warrants of arrest were today (May 31, 2005) issued against high-profile former Patna DM Gautam Goswami and eight others by a local court in Patna, which also ordered search of the houses of the accused and impounding the passport of Goswami in connection with the multi-crore flood-relief scam in Bihar.

The warrants of arrest against rest of the 14 accused, excluding the five who were arrested on Saturday (May 28, 2005) and remanded to judicial custody, were likely to be obtained in a day or two, Vigilance sources said.

The designated Vigilance Judge J M Prasad ordered the issue of warrants of arrest against Goswami and eight others, including his assistant Amitav Arun, proprietor of a fake firm Santosh Kumar Jha, alleged kingpins of the scam after accepting the petition of the State Vigilance Bureau probing the scam.

Prasad also ordered search of the houses of the accused, besides impounding the passport of Goswami.

The Bureau had yesterday (May 30, 2005) alerted international and domestic airports, besides immigration check-post authorities across India, to prohibit former Patna DM Goswami and two other alleged kingpins of the multi-crore flood relief scam from flying out of the Country.

Bihar police had also requested Uttar Pradesh police to help assist the Vigilance team, already camping there, to arrest Goswami who is posted in Lucknow.