CBI opposes Laloo’s bail plea

At the core of the CBI’s opposition to the granting of anticipatory bail to Laloo is that he “willfully ignored the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)” that gravely spoke of fraudulent withdrawals from State treasuries, “protection and patronage of the scamsters”, “deliberate suppression of facts” that pointed to phantom fodder supplies to the State Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) and “receiving the hospitality” of persons whom the needle of suspicion point to.

Counsel Ansari pooh-poohed the chief minister’s claim that it was at his behest that the fodder scam probe was started and that he therefore could not have been part of the conspiracy in the first place. The counsel told the court:

* that no action was taken by the chief minister despite admitting in the Bihar Assembly as far back as June 25, 1993 that there were irregularities in the functioning of the AHD.

* that on June 7, 1993, the chief minister sought to give the impression that there was nothing amiss and he gave a clean chit to officials at a meeting of DCs of South Bihar, treasury officers and secretaries in Chaibasa.

* that officials under a cloud were either transferred to “safe” postings or elevated or given extensions, without ascertaining the innocence or otherwise of persons accused in the scam.

* that the chief minister’s defence that he was not aware of the scamsters is untenable.

Laloo’s counsel P N Pandey told Special Court Judge S K Lal that his client has not even been formally informed about his alleged involvement in the scam and most of what he knows is from media reports. Pandey said his client was being tried in the media instead of in the courts. The counsel asked the court to ascertain the circumstances under which the CBI on April 27 last announced to the media that it was filing a chargesheet against Laloo.

The CBI, counsel Pandey told Judge Lal, “has falsely implicated” his client in the case without any legally admissible evidence against him and, instead, “merely on conjecture.”

Another ground cited by Laloo’s counsel for the granting of anticipatory bail was the Governor’s failure to seek the opinion of the Attorney General before granting permission to the CBI to file the chargesheet.

The next hearing of the anticipatory bail petition has been fixed for June 23.