DA case: HC issues notice to Lalu, Rabri

New Delhi; The Patna High Court issued notices to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi on Bihar government’s petition challenging their acquittal in the Disproportionate Assets (DA) case, an off-shoot of the multi-crore rupees fodder scam.

Issuing the notices, Justice Ramesh Kumar Dutta asked Lalu and Rabri, also a former chief minister, to explain why the Bihar government's appeal against their acquittal by a special CBI court should not be admitted.

Dutta also asked the state government to submit requisite documents to the court within two weeks.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer, Harish Salve appearing for the state government, quoted section 378 of code of criminal procedure to defend the government's right to challenge the acquittals in cases where an offence was committed within the geographical limits of that state.

He quoted several apex court judgements to buttress his argument.

"It is very difficult to understand that the prosecuting agency, the CBI, has instead of going in appeal chosen to uphold the acquittal of the very people whose conviction it had sought," he said responding to Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanian's contention that the state could not move in appeal against the trial court's December 18 verdict.

Subramanian, appearing for the CBI, said under the Delhi Police Establishment Act, by which the central investigating agency was governed, the agency alone could appeal against the acquittal of the accused in cases probed by it with the permission of the central government or the government of the concerned state.

The Bihar government had on February 19 filed a petition in the Patna High Court challenging the acquittal of Lalu-Rabri duo by special CBI judge Muni Lal Paswan on December 18 last year. Paswan has retired.

The case, filed a little over seven years ago, charged Lalu Prasad with amassing assets amounting to Rs 46 lakh disproportionate to his known sources of income when he was Bihar chief minister between 1990 and 1997.

Rabri Devi was made a co-accused for abetting the commission of the offence.

The couple's acquittal had come as a big relief for the Centre's UPA government, which is under frequent opposition attack over the tainted ministers issue.