EVEN as the CBI plans to move for more time in the Rs 700-crore fodder scam, sources in the agency say that S.B. Sinha, a key scam accused, has said that he paid Rs 2.5 lakh to Laloo Yadav in 1990, a day before he took over as chief minister. Sinha reportedly told his CBI interrogators that the payment was made at a guest house in Srikrishnapuri colony. A similar confession was made by Umesh Prasad Singh, another accused. Says Atul, CBI DIG heading the probe: "It's too premature to comment. We have all kinds of evidences coming our way.'' The CBI has taken about a dozen key accused into custody and the state police has lodged FIRs against 275 people. The entire strength of the CBI in Patna, Ranchi and Dhanbad is tied up with the case. Staff has been augmented from Calcutta and Delhi. Add to it IT sleuths looking at returns and a committee appointed by the Bihar government. Predictably, progress is at snail's pace. As the mist clears, some non-Janata Dal names have cropped up but Samata Party leader Nitish Kumar says these are just red herrings.