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Laloo, Mishra remanded to judicial custody for a day

Soroor Ahmed in Patna

Two successive Bihar chief ministers, Laloo Prasad Yadav and Dr Jagannath Mishra, were on Wednesday remanded to judicial custody by the CBI special court of S K Lal. The others who met the same fats were former Union ministers Chandradeo Prasad Verma, former Bihar animal husbandry minister Bhola Ram Toofani, another former minister in Laloo cabinet, Vidya Sagar Nishad and R K Rana, MLA.

The two former chief ministers surrendered in the morning following the rejection of their prayer by the Supreme Court to quash the trial court's order to surrender. The counsels of Laloo Yadav and Dr Jagannath Mishra, Hajendra Singh and R K Jain respectively, made strong pleas for the provisional bail till the argument was completed. Th argument remained inconclusive as the court had to be adjourned in the afternoon following the death of a lawyer.

Lal forwarded all of them to the Beur Central Jail and they would be produced before the court on Thursday morning. However, Laloo was later taken to the Bihar Military Police guesthouse on security grounds, venue of his detention after his arrest last year as well. All of them have been made accused in the case number RC 64(A) 96 which involves the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 940 million from the treasury of Deoghar district. The accused surrendered amidst tight security with all the top administrative and police officials present on the court premises. The jawans of Rapid Action Force were seen manning the court and the road which leads to it.

The scene this time was no match to the July 29 surrender last year when thousands of people lined up on the road and supporters took to street protesting against Laloo's arrest. A sizeable number of ministers and legislators and other party functionaries were present outside the court, but no effort was made to stop the vehicle carrying the former chief ministers. Both the chief ministers were taken to court in separate cars. The first to go was Dr Mishra to be followed by the RJD chief.

While the RJD leader can be satisfied that people did line up to see him -- rather unsuccessfully as the window panes of the car were closed -- Dr Mishra was left lone and forlorn. Apart from a handful a supporters the was no one in the court.

It is learnt that the RJD leader had instructed the supporters not to come out as it only complicates matters. Even on the eve of his arrest the residence of the chief ministers wore a relative deserted look with newsmen and lensmen outnumbering the partymen who visited it on Tuesday.

The husband of the present Bihar chief minister was quite busy offering Chhath Parasadi to mediamen and other visitors on Tuesday. Chhath, the most popular festival of Hindus in Bihar, was observed on Monday. Both Babri and Laloo offered performed puja, perhaps with the hope that they would not have to undergo the ordeal once again. But that was not to be and he had to go to jail once again.

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