Acquitted, Lalu says judiciary like God to him

PATNA: In a relief for RJD chief and railway minister Lalu Yadav, a designated CBI court on Monday acquitted him and his wife Rabri Devi in the seven-year-old disproportionate asset (DA) case. CBI judge Muni Lal Paswan acquitted the duo of all charges in the case. Special CBI prosecutor LR Ansari said, “we may go to the high court in appeal against the acquittal.”

The judgement could put the tainted issue on the backburner. Though Mr Yadav is linked to 6 more cases related to the fodder scam, the DA case judgement has come as a big relief for the duo. A beaming Mr Yadav remarked: “ The truth is out now.

We had our faith in the judiciary and it has done justice to us. The opposition hurled all sorts of allegations against us but now their faces have been blackened,” Mr Yadav said emerging out of the court room. Mr Yadav even chose the opportunity to lavish praise on the judiciary: “God is great and so is judiciary. It (judiciary) is like god to me.”

Monday proved to be a double whammy for the NDA camp as the high court cancelled land allotted by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada) to Holi Cow pictures, a company owned by Prakash Jha, the famed Bollywood director. The opposition had alleged that the land was made available to Jha for building multiplexes at a throw away price. The opposition will obviously reinforce its attack now.

At 10 circular road, the official residence of Rabri Devi, it was celebration time. Crackers were burst and sweets were distributed as RJD union ministers and party MLAs joined in the celebrations. Mr Yadav said he would take the verdict to the people and “it will surely have a big impact, politically.”

The sounds of crackers could be heard at 1 Anne Marg, the official residence of the chief minister. Chief minister Nitish Kumar who was going having Janata Ka Durbar was certainly not one to miss out the message conveyed to him by the crackers. “Perhaps they want me to react.

I am not one who will react. I don’t belong to a reactionary party. It is for the CBI to react,” the CM remarked. “For nearly 10 days Laluji has been camping here. It will be better if he goes to Delhi and start attending to railway work,” he said .

The DA case judgement will take the sting out of the NDA attack. Senior BJP leader and the deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi expressed surprise over the verdict and said the CBI must file an appeal in the high court.

Mr Yadav was accused by CBI of amassing property worth over Rs 46 lakh beyond his known source of income when he was the CM between 1990-97. His wife Rabri Devi was also charged with abetting Mr Yadav in acquiring ill-gotten wealth and was made a co-accused in the DA case.

The DA case, an offshoot of fodder scam, was registered by the CBI on 19 August, 1998. Subsequently, the duo had to even surrender in the court and Mr Yadav even had to go to jail. Rabri was however granted bail.