Monday, September 12 2005 15:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Bihar Election Commissioner D P Maheshwari today (Sept 12, 2005) surrendered before a special CBI court in connection with the multi-crore Bitumen scam and was remanded to judicial custody after his bail application was rejected.

The retired IAS official, who was Secretary, Road Construction department, when the scam in the department allegedly took place, came to the court this morning with his lawyer Ramvinay Singh and gave himself up before the designated CBI judge R N Sharma this morning.

Maheswari's surrendered two days after a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against him and Superintending Engineer of the Road Construction department, Janardan Sharma, in connection with the scam.

The court dismissed his application for regular bail and remanded him to judicial custody till September 23 to be lodged in the high-security Beur jail.

While Ramvinay Singh argued on behalf of Maheshwari for bail, CBI special public prosecutor L R Ansari vehemently opposed his plea.

Maheshrwari was appointed State Election Commissioner, responsible for holding elections to Panchayat and local bodies in the state, in 2002 soon after his retirement.

Former RJD minister for Road Construction, Iliyas Hussain is also named an accused in the case, which relates to rampant irregularities in supply and purchase of bitumen worth lakhs of rupees from oil companies by the Road Construction department.