CBI will soon seek governor's nod to prosecute Laloo

The Central Bureau of Investigation will write to Bihar Governor A R Kidwai in the next eight or 10 days to seek his permission for prosecuting Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam case, CBI Director Joginder Singh said.

Singh said a report of the CBI superintendent will be forwarded to the governor with request to allow prosecution.

He declined to comment on reported allegations of some politicians that the CBI had decided to prosecute Laloo Yadav in the fodder case at the behest of some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders to destabilise the United Front government. He also declined to comment on allegations of leakage of some information pertaining to the CBI affairs to some BJP leaders.

However, he said the CBI had been investigating fairly and honestly on the basis of evidence and that it has been complying with the Supreme Court's directives.

Meanwhile, the BJP on Thursday demanded that the correspondence between the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda regarding financial bungling by the Bihar government be laid before Parliament.

BJP vice-president Krishan Lal Sharma told the media that the CAG had expressed serious concern at what it described as ''the situation of total financial collapse''.

He said even Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav had admitted excess withdrawals by some departments.

Referring to the fodder scam, Sharma said the CBI was deliberately delaying filing of charges against Yadav. ''We have serious doubts that the CBI at the behest of the government is delaying the process of filing charges against the Bihar chief minister,'' he said.

Sharma said it seemed Yadav's threats had some impact on the government and the CBI. The Bihar governor was in the capital and what transpired between him and the home minister on the issue, he added, should be revealed.

UNI