The countdown of the trial of yet another infamous fodder scam case RC 47 A/96 is set to start from Friday in
which former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad is a main conspirator.
The case involves fraudulent withdrawal of ?139.35 crore from Doranda treasury of Ranchi in 1995-96 when Lalu Prasad was chief minister of Bihar. As many as 110 people were booked as accused including politicians, bureaucrats, officials of animal husbandry department and suppliers.
Accused by the CBI as the kingpin of Rs 950 crore fodder scam cases, Lalu Prasad was convicted in four cases and he is currently out on bail.
The special CBI court headed by SK Shashi will start the day to day hearing of the case after CBI court rejected plea of Lalu Prasad and 78 other accused to postpone hearing till physical hearing of the court is resumed.
Due to the Covid-19 restrictions courts in Jharkhand are currently functioning largely in virtual mode. Lalu and other accused contended that during the trial huge numbers of documents were produced by the prosecution and the defence. And it is difficult to examine and crosscheck these documents during virtual mode of hearing. The court on this said that the defence lawyers can come to the courtroom to examine documents and the court can conduct hearings both the way as required. The court also said that copies of the documents were provided to the accused during the trial hence their argument doesn’t have merit.
The defence further contended that the third wave of Covid 19 is also feared quite soon hence there may be risk in physically attending the court. The court turned down the argument stating that if judicial officials and staff can attend the court then defence lawyers should also not carry any apprehension.
In fact, the CBI judge was promoted and transferred to Dhanbad labour court three months back. Since he has conducted trials of this fodder scam case being monitored by the High court. His transfer was kept on hold by the High court for that reason and directed the judge to complete the hearing in six months.
The decision of the court has come as a setback for Lalu Prasad and others who have been trying to delay the hearing. The trial of the case is in the concluding phase as the prosecution already completed its arguments on August 7. Now the defence will have to complete its argument after which judgment will be delivered.