RLM calls for bandh on Nov 9

PATNA, Nov 3 (PTI) — Rashtriya Janata Dal President Laloo Prasad Yadav today moved the Patna High Court against the designated CBI Judge SK Lal’s order rejecting his regular bail plea in a conspiracy angle case of the fodder scam.

Senior Lawyer Chitiranjan Prasad Sinha filed the petition on behalf of Mr Yadav, which is likely to be listed for hearing on Thursday or Friday.

Mr Lal had on October 30 turned down Mr Yadav’s prayer for regular bail and remanded him to judicial custody till November 13 in a case relating to fraudulent withdrawals of more than Rs 97 lakh from Deoghar treasury by state Animal Husbandry Department officials through ‘‘forged and fake’’ bills.

Mr Yadav, Bihar Jan Congress chief patron Jagannath Mishra, former Bihar Ministers Bholaram Toofani, Vidyasagar Nishad and CP Verma, besides RJD MLA RK Rana had surrendered in the trial court on October 28 in connection with the case.

Mr Yadav, in his petition for regular bail charged the CBI with being ‘‘biased in investigation and falsely implicated me in the case.’’

He said the charges levelled against him in the case RC 64(A)/96 were similar to the ones already referred to in another conspiracy case RC 20(A)/96 in which he had already been granted regular bail by the High Court.

The petition said the CBI had also relied on the same set of evidences already shown in RC 20(A)/96 to implicate Mr Yadav in this case.

On the allegations of receiving bribes as quid pro quo for bestowing favours on scamsters, it termed the charges as ‘‘baseless and unfounded’’ and said the statement of other accused recorded by the agency with respect to the allegations has ‘‘no evidenciary value.’’

The petition also claimed that it was Mr Yadav, who as Chief Minister detected the irregular withdrawals from various treasuries since 1977 and ordered institution of 41 cases. Therefore, a person who took such a step could not be involved in the chain of conspiracy for the clandestine drawals, it said.

‘‘More so the accused has fully cooperated with the CBI in handing over files and documents concerning the case when he was in office and is not likely to evade arrest keeping in view his political stand and thus it is a fit case for grant of bail’’, it added.

In a related development a 12-hour simultaneous bandh has been called in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar by the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha (RLM) on November 9 to protest against the price rise, and ‘‘false implication’’ of Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam cases, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav said today.

Mr Yadav, RLM president and former Defence Minister, charged the BJP-led government at the Centre and the CBI with insulting Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav by ‘‘falsely implicating’’ him in scam cases.

He also charged the previous United Front government with having hatched ‘‘a conspiracy’’ to implicate Laloo Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam ‘‘under pressure from senior Janata Dal leaders’’.

‘‘As Defence Minister in the IK Gujral ministry I had opposed the conspiracy and informed Lalooji about it,’’ he told newsmen here after a one-and-half hour meeting with Laloo Prasad Yadav at the make-shift jail at Phulwarisharif.

Mr Yadav alleged that senior JD leaders had exerted pressure on the UF ministry to implicate former Bihar Chief Minister in the scam and said he had told the then Prime Minister IK Gujral not to buckle under pressure ‘‘as the move was politically-motivated’’.

Implicating Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav in the scam, he alleged, was a ‘‘political decision’’ and ‘‘a conspiracy is still on to harass and demoralise the RJD supremo’’.

There is not a single direct allegation against Laloo Prasad Yadav in the irregular withdrawals from treasuries and the ‘‘CBI action against him smacks of vendetta,’’ he claimed.

‘‘Sinister attempts are being made to demoralise and insult people championing the cause of weaker section of society and minorities...and weaken the struggle against rise of communalism and feudal forces,’’ he alleged.

The RLM, he said, would continue to fight the conspiracy against Laloo Prasad Yadav with ‘‘full vigour and strength’’.

No time-limit has been mentioned for the ban period on the three-member pop group which is already facing an inquiry by the Ministry of Culture for the comments made on Indian television channels, the report said.

Leading English daily, "Dawn" said when a pop concert promoter recently applied for organising a music show involving "Junoon" at Lahore Defence Club, he was denied permission on the grounds of the ban.