Court asks Lalu why he needs exemption
A special CBI court in Ranchi on Thursday asked Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad to explain why he was citing the presidential election as a reason for seeking exemption from personal appearances when he wasn’t eligible to vote.
Prasad had sought exemption from court appearances in a fodder scam case because he was busy preparing for the July 17 electoral contest.
Following this, special CBI judge Shivpal Singh asked: “You cannot participate in the presidential poll because you can’t vote. Why, then, do you need an exemption from making personal appearances?”
In his response, Prasad explained that as the national president of his party, he was required to hold meetings with party legislators to plan and strategise political moves. “I have fully abided with each and every order of the court. If the court requires my presence, I will readily come. However, my humble request should be considered at least for the time being,” he said.
Singh responded by asking Prasad to instruct his lawyer to submit an application in this regard, upon which the court will take a decision.
The court, however, exempted Prasad from appearing on June 30 – when the statements of defence witnesses produced by Prasad are to be recorded.
The ongoing case relates to the fraudulent withdrawal of ₹90 lakh from the Deoghar treasury. Prasad has produced former Jharkhand minister Suresh Paswan, a member of the Bihar legislative assembly between 1995 and 2000, as his witness.
“Paswan was produced to counter the CBI’s allegation that Lalu Prasad was fully aware of the fodder scam, and he – being the chief minister and finance minister – never initiated any action to find out the cause of excess fund withdrawals from the animal husbandry department,” Prabhat Kumar, the RJD chief’s counsel, said.
A 30-member Gorkhaland Movement Coordination Committee will henceforth spearhead the movement for a separate state, it was decided in a meeting of 14 parties and organisations including BJP in Kalimpong on Thursday.
The committee was formed with two representatives each from the 13 parties and organisations that attended the meeting. There will be two representatives from the Dooars and Terai, which are in the foothills and cover vast areas of Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri districts, where Nepalis a minority.
The first meeting of the committee will be held on July 6.
“We decided not to settle for anything less than a separate state. Kalyan Dewan, who is a vice president of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), will be the convener of the committee. He will be assisted by DK Pradhan, who is the chairman of Darjeeling municipality,” said Tamang. BJP was represented in the meeting by Manoj Dewan, the president of the party’s hill district committee.
Three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were severely injured on Thursday after they were beaten up by locals at Teesta Valley. The situation became extremely tensed in the region following spread of variety of rumours.