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Soroor Ahmed in Patna
A Central Bureau of Investigation special court on Monday afternoon denied bail to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and former Bihar chief minister Laloo Yadav in case number RC-47 A/96 of the animal husbandry scam. He was remanded to 15 days' judicial custody.
The special court of H C Mishra also denied bail to Jagannath Mishra, another former Bihar chief minister and co-accused in the case.
Yadav would be lodged in a bacon factory guesthouse in Ranchi. This would be the first time that he would be going to a jail outside Bihar.
RC-47 A-96 was the biggest of the six fodder scam cases being investigated by the CBI.
It involved the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 1.37 billion from the Doranda treasury in Ranchi between 1990 and 1996.
Besides Laloo and Mishra, 108 people had been chargesheeted in the case. This included IAS officers, suppliers and animal husbandry department officials.
Laloo was accused of not taking any action to stop the corrupt practice in the animal husbandry department "despite having specific information about them, in order to let the fraud go on in return of consideration".
He was the chief minister of the state during that period.
Earlier in the day, both the former chief ministers had surrendered before the court.
The lawyers for Yadav and Mishra -- Ram Jethmalani and Rana Pratap Singh respectively -- had filed separate bail pleas for their clients.
The lawyers pleaded that since they had been granted bail on similar charges related to other animal husbandry scam cases, both should be given relief.
According to Jethmalani the court had only one question: "Whether the accused will flee away or tamper with records. Past record say Laloo has not violated court orders and is always present on the hearing dates. In the past, the Supreme Court and the high court have given bail in similar cases. Therefore, he should be granted bail."
Jagannath Mishra's lawyer pleaded that his client was not the chief minister of the state and had been implicated under a political conspiracy.
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