In a major setback for former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected his plea seeking to change the judge conducting trial in the 1996 fodder scam case in which he is an accused and directed the trial court in Jharkhand to deliver its verdict expeditiously.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam dismissed the RJD chief’s allegation that the trial judge, being a relative of a minister in the Nitish Kumar government, is biased against him.
It also questioned Mr Yadav for doubting the impartiality of the special CBI judge against him at the fag end of the trial when the date of pronouncement of verdict was fixed as July 15. Considering that the trial against Mr Yadav and others has been going on for the last 16 years, the apex court also directed the special CBI court in Ranchi to wrap up the proceedings in the case in 20 days of hearing. The scam pertains to alleged fraudulent withdrawal of `37.7 crore from the treasury of Chaibasa, now in Jharkhand, when Yadav was the CM of Bihar.
“We have already highlighted that the prosecution was initiated as early as in 1997 and after prolonged trial, the matter has reached final stage, namely, pronouncement of the decision. In our view, in a matter of this nature, it is not at all desirable to shift the case to some other court at the last hour... If the appellant (Lalu) really had any apprehension in his mind, this could have been raised at the earliest point of time and not after the conclusion of evidence and arguments, particularly, on the eve of pronouncement of judgment,” the apex court said in its 15-page judgment.
The bench, also comprising Justices Ranjana Desai and Ranjan Gogoi, said that it was not inclined to entertain the allegations levelled against the judge. In support of his allegations, the RJD chief had placed some photographs in which a relative of the judge was seen with chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar.