Ranchi CBI court issues contempt notices to 3 RJD,1 Cong leader

Shashank Shekhar

Ranchi ( Jharkhand): A special CBI court, Ranchi, Jharkhand, on January 3, 2018, served contempt of court notices to three senior RJD leaders and a Congress leaders for allegedly criticising the December 23, 2017, conviction of RJD chief Lalu Prasad in a fodder scam case on television.

CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh directed senior RJD leaders Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Shivanand Tiwari and Lalu Prasad’s son and Leader of opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav and Congress leader Manish Tewari to personally appear before the court on January 23, 2018.
The CBI court, which was scheduled to pronounce the quantum of punishment to Lalu Prasad and 15 others on January 3, is likely to announce it on January 4. The case did not come up on January 3 due to a condolence meeting held during the day to mourn two lawyers. The RJD chief and the 15 others who were brought to the court in the morning were taken back to Birsa Munda Jail, Hotwar, Ranchi.

The court had on December 23 convicted Lalu Prasad and 15 others including three former IAS officers : Phool Chand Singh, Mahesh Prasad and Beck Julius,  in a fodder scam case involving fraudulent drawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar Treasury in Jharkhand during 1991-94. Six others, including another former chief minister, Jagannath Mishra, were acquitted.

” I do not know about the court’s summon…when I’ll receive it, I will reply to it,” said Raghuvansh Prasad Singh who was present on the court premises.