A special court in Patna on Monday granted Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav permission to undertake a proposed tour of Europe from June 23 to 28.

There is a blanket ban on Lalu leaving country till the conclusion of the multi-crore fodder scam case.

Lalu will lead a delegation to Britain, France [Images], Austria, Italy [Images] and Germany [Images] on a tour to help in the development of Indian Railways.

The Central Bureau of Investigation's deputy legal advisor L R Ansari did not oppose the plea.

Earlier, the court had asked Lalu's counsel to submit the original copies of the tour programme.

Lalu will participate in the meeting of Union of International Railways in Paris and ink an agreement at Rome with Italian National Railways.

Similar permission had earlier been granted to the railway minister to visit Pakistan as a member of a delegation and also to attend the funeral of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.