The Patna High Court on Monday asked the Bihar government to reply by Friday, the next date of hearing, on its threat perception in arresting top Bihar politicians including Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, allegedly involved in the Rs 950 crore fodder scam.
The courts order followed submission by the CBI that the agency would not delay the arrest even for a minute if the state government gave an undertaking that no harm would be done to the officials of the agency and that law and order would be maintained at all cost. CBI counsel Rakesh Kumar submitted a questionnaire to the monitoring bench asking whether the state government apprehended widespread and serious law and order problem in the event of arrest of political executives holding high status by the CBI.
, will it be able to maintain law and order and ensure that no harm is done to CBI personnel and property.
The bench while taking cognisance of the CBIs plea observed that the matter was very serious and hence it was necessary to secure the view point of the state government on the matter.
On the issue of giving sanction to prosecute the IAS officials, presently in judicial custody, the counsel for the central government, Ajay Tripathy, assured the court that he would give a positive reply on the next date of hearing.
The court also warned that the Director of the CBI would be held responsible if it was found that the agency was adopting a partisan attitude in arresting the politicians involved in the scam. The courts warning followed contention by the counsel of the leader of opposition, Sushil Kumar Modi, that the investigative agency had adopted double standards in arresting the politicians and other accused. The counsel, Ravi Shanker Prasad said that heavens will not fail if some of the politicians are arrested in the scam as three members of the state Assembly are already behind the bars.
