Lalu's troubles far from over

Despite the Supreme Court's verdict today against Bihar government's authority to file an appeal in the Patna High Court against the RJD supremo in a disproportionate assets case prosecuted by the CBI, Lalu Prasad's trouble seems to be far from over.

Prasad is saddled with six more cases in the multi-crore fodder scam which are in various stages of trial. The cases relate to fraudulent withdrawal of crores of rupees from different treasuries in Bihar and some districts now in Jharkhand during the 15-year tenure of RJD in Bihar.

While five cases were in various stages of trial in Ranchi, another case RC 64 (A)/96 related to his alleged involvement in fraudulent withdrawals of Rs 46 lakh from Banka/Bhagalpur treasury between 1990 and 1996.

The cases in which charges have been framed and trial was going on in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, related to alleged fraudulent withdrawals of crores of rupees from Dumka, Chaibasa, Ranchi and Hazaribagh districts.

The Supreme Court verdict bringing major relief to Prasad in the DA case, an offshoot of the multi-crore scam, has come as a setback to the ruling NDA in Bihar as its leaders were heavily banking on the case to teach a lesson to the opposition leader.