Fodder Scam: Supreme Court dismisses Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Plea to transfer Trial Court Judge

The Supreme Court today dismissed Lalu Prasad Yadav’s petition to transfer a trial court judge hearing the multi-crore Fodder scam case against him.

Yadav approached the Apex Court after the Jharkhand High Court on July 1 dismissed his plea to transfer the case to another special CBI court; on the ground of apprehension of bias. He argued that the trial court judge PK Singh is a relative of PK Shahi, Education Minister in the government of Nitish Kumar who is “Yadav’s biggest political enemy”.

However, Yadav’s plea that there was a reasonable likelihood of bias on the grounds of trial Court Judge’s proximity with a minister of the Nitish Kumar's Cabinet was rejected by the Supreme Court. An Apex Court Bench led by Chief Justice P Sathasivam held that his apprehensions raised by Yadav were unfounded, without any merits and had no substantial basis.

The case relates to the alleged fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury through fake enforced bills by the officials of the state between 1994-96.

The Supreme Court has demanded both CBI and Yadav to complete their arguments in case within a span of 20 days and asked the trial judge to pronounce his verdict as soon as possible

Notably, in the light of the recent Supreme Court verdict on disqualification of  MP’s, any conviction and sentence by the Trial Court would not only mean immediate disqualification of Yadav as Member of Parliament but would also prevent him from contesting in the 2014 general elections.