Patna Hc Stays Laloos Arrest

The Patna High Court yesterday ordered that Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav would not be arrested till the disposal of his anticipatory bail petition pending before it in a conspiracy angle case of the fodder scam.

Justice D S Dhaliwal, who resumed hearing on Yadavs anticipatory bail petition and adjourned it mid-way till today, said since the hearing on the petition has commenced, the arrest of the petitioner is stayed till his petition is disposed of.

The high court had on June 30 adjourned till yesterday the hearing on Yadavs application as CBI sought more time to oppose the bail and gave an undertaking that it would not arrest Yadav till July 21.

The Chief Ministers lawyer, Rajendra Prasad Singh, yesterday sought to counter the charges levelled against Laloo Yadav by CBI in the conspiracy case of the scam alleging that the agency had falsely implicated him in the case.

Singh claimed CBI was not in possession of reliable evidence as to show that the Chief Minister had received ilegal gratification from the scamsters or executed the fraudulent drawals from the state treasuries. Yadav has fully cooperted with the agency in carrying out its investigations into the fodder scam and not hindered the investigations in any way, he said.

Singh contended it was the state government which had handed over the voluminous documents and files relating to the scam to CBI as and when required by it without any objection.

Moreover, houses of the relatives of the Chief Minister have been searched by the agencys officials and nothing incriminating has been found, he said.

Stating that Yadav was holding a high post and was not likely to either abscond or tamper with the evidences, Singh pleaded that anticipatory bail be granted to the Chief Minister. Earlier, Justice Dhaliwal rejected the request of the Chief Ministers counsel that the court should hear anticipatory bail prayers of Yadav in three other separate cases of the scam together.