In a major setback for Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Jharkhand High Court on Monday dismissed his petitions to transfer one of his fodder scam cases to another special CBI court from the present court of Pravas Kumar Singh and examining one more witness.
The former Bihar Chief Minister, who faces a judgement in a fodder scam case on July 15, filed the petition requesting transfer of the case to another special CBI court, as he did not 'expect justice' from the present special CBI judge Pravas Kumar Singh.
Yadav had asked for his case to be transferred to a different court, alleging that Pravas Kumar Singh, the judge handling the verdict, is related to a senior minister in the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar Government.
The fodder scam also known as the "Chara Ghotala" was a corruption scandal that involved the alleged embezzlement of about Rs. 950 crore from a Bihar Government treasury.
The alleged theft spanned many years, and was engaged in by many Bihar state government administrative and elected officials across multiple administrations, and involved the fabrication of "vast herds of fictitious livestock" for which fodder, medicines and animal husbandry equipment was supposedly procured.
The fodder scam was unearthed in Bihar in 1996 when Lalu Prasad was Bihar's chief minister.
He had to resign from the post in 1997 after a court issued an arrest warrant against him in connection with one of the cases. His wife Rabri Devi then took over as the state's chief minister.