Governor Approved Move Seven Days Ago

The Central Bureau of Investigation is all set to file a chargesheet against Chief Minister Rabri Devi in the disproportionate assets case against her husband and RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav. Governor V C Pande has already sanctioned the prosecution of Mr Laloo Yadav.

Mrs Rabri Devi has been named co-accused in the case no. RC 5(A) / 98 whereas her husband is the main accused. The case is an offshot of the multi crore fodder scam. Mr Yadav has been already chargesheeted on the charge of being a key consirator in two of the cases (RC 20(A) / 96 and Rs 64(A)/96 pertaining to the fodder scam. He was also put behind bars twice but was freed on conditional bail from the courts.

 

Although the CBI had completed its probe into this case much earlier, they were waiting for a gubernatorial sanction to prosecute Mr Yadav, the then Chief Minister. Legal experts, however, say that the gubernatorial sanction against Mr Yadav was not mandatory in this particular case but the CBI apparently did not want to take any chance.

As the co-accused in this case, Mrs Rabri Devi, had been a housewife when Mr Yadav allegedly amassed property disproportionate to his known source of income, the CBI did not seek the Governor's nod to prosecute her. The charge against Mrs Rabri Devi is that she had helped her husband amass illegal property and also conceal the source of money sent on it. Therefore, she had aided and abetted corruption. Now that Governor Vinod Chandra Pande had given his nod to prosecute Mr Yadav in this case, the CBI is all set to file the chargesheet against the Yadav couple.

Meanwhile, a petition has been filed by Mr Yadav in the court of designated CBI judge S K Lal saying that prosecution sanction from the Speaker of the Bihar Assembly was also required to chargesheet him since he was a member of Bihar Legislative Assembly during the period (1990-96). Mr Yadav's contention is based on a ruling of the Supreme Court in the JMM bribery case. The court had reportely said that sanction from the Speaker of Parliament was also required to prosecute a Member of Parliament.

Legal experts say that this plea of Mr Yadav was not tenable. The court's ruling in the JMM bribery case was for an MP for his acts in the Parliament, whereas the charge against Mr Yadav is that he had taken money from those involved in the fodder scam.