Mishras Arrest Imminent

Supreme Court yesterday gave a free hand to the CBI to execute arrest warrants against former Bihar Chief Minister, Jagannath Mishra, accused in the multi-crore fodder scam case.

The Court, however, deferred hearing on a special leave petition (SLP) filed by Mishra challenging a judgement of the Patna High Court, rejecting his petition against the order of the special CBI judge, Patna, S K Lal.

A three-judge bench comprising justice M K Mukherjee, justice S P Kurdurkar and justice K T Thomas told Kapil Sibal, counsel for Mishra, that the Court would hear the matter only after the proof of surrender by his client was filed before it.

Earlier, the Court rejected an application of Mishra seeking exemption from surrendering before the Patna special judge.

The Court at one stage dismissed the petition by Mishra, but later recalled the order when Sibal submitted that his client would surrender on or before Monday before the special judge.

The Court, however, declined to grant any more protection to Mishra against execution of non-bailable warrants issued by the special judge.