New Delhi/Lucknow, October 23, 2026: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Satyendra Kumar, a proclaimed offender wanted in the Bihar fodder scam cases for more than 25 years, at Lucknow railway station. The arrest took place around midnight on October 22 while he was travelling by train from Guna in Madhya Pradesh to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
Kumar had been named in a CBI charge sheet filed in 2001. He absconded immediately thereafter and failed to appear before the court to face trial, leading to the issuance of a permanent warrant of arrest against him. The agency had been searching for him for over 25 years.
Through sustained physical surveillance, technical monitoring, and human intelligence, investigators traced Kumar’s location to Nepal, where he had reportedly been staying under an assumed identity. He recently re-entered India. Acting on specific intelligence about his train journey from Guna to Lucknow on October 22, the CBI formed a dedicated team and deployed it at Lucknow railway station well before the train’s arrival. Kumar was taken into custody around midnight.
He is being brought to Ranchi in Jharkhand on transit remand for production before the competent court to face trial.
The Bihar fodder scam involved large-scale embezzlement of public funds from the Animal Husbandry Department of undivided Bihar during the 1990s. It comprised around 55 cases of fraudulent withdrawals estimated at approximately ₹950 crore between 1992 and 1995, carried out through fake bills for fodder, medicines, and equipment. The cases revealed a nexus involving politicians, bureaucrats, suppliers, and middlemen. Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has been convicted in five related cases.
According to reports, Kumar was alleged to be a supplier in the scam. The CBI has not elaborated further on his specific role in its official statement.
The arrest ends a manhunt that spanned more than two decades and crossed international borders. The case remains under the jurisdiction of the special court in Ranchi.
