New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today said it is willing to transfer to another judge one of the cases pertaining to the multi-crore fodder scam where RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is the main accused. Mr Yadav allegedly embezzled Rs. 35 crore when he was Bihar chief minister.
The RJD chief had moved the top court, expressing fear that he won't get a fair trial as the Ranchi court judge handling the case, Pravas Kumar Singh, is related to a senior minister in the present Bihar government headed by his political rival, Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United).
The Supreme Court had, in response, restrained the trial court from giving a verdict in the fodder scam case earlier this month.
"A very subtle kind of influence might have come on the judge," the court today observed.
The RJD chief had approached the Supreme Court after the Jharkhand High Court had dismissed his appeal for a transfer.
Mr Yadav was named as an accused in five fodder scam cases in 1997, along with nearly 40 others. In this case he is accused of withdrawing Rs. 35 crore illegally from the Chaibasa treasury. Chaibasa is now in Jharkhand. 54 of the 61 cases related to the scandal were transferred to Jharkhand courts after it was carved out from Bihar and made a separate state in November 2000.
He had quit as chief minister in 1997, when his name figured in the CBI probe into scam which according to the agency, ran into Rs. 900 crore. The agency today sought more time to respond to a notice that had been issued by the top court following Mr Yadav's plea for transfer of the case.
The next hearing has been fixed for August 6.