JOIN USThe Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad on a plea by the CBI against dropping of conspiracy charge against him by the Jharkhand High Court in one of the fodder scam cases.
A bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice S A Bobde sought Lalu’s response within four weeks on a fresh plea filed by the CBI through the Jharkhand government. Just ahead of Bihar Assembly elections, the CBI approached the SC contending that the HC had on November 14, 2014 erroneously proceeded to hold the ingredients of two distinct cases were same and allowed his plea for quashing of charges.
The HC had held that the offences against Lalu for cheating, forgery and corruption were covered by Section 300 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which stated that a person once convicted or acquitted cannot be tried for the same offence. Lalu was convicted and sentenced to five years jail, along with others in one of the cases arising out of the fodder scam, relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.70 crore from Chaibasa treasury, following which he was disqualified from contesting any election.
It contended that the two cases related to different time period and the case in which charges were quashed was related to withdrawal of Rs 89.27 crore from Deoghar treasury during 1990 to 1994.