Arrest warrants against Laloo, Rabri

Earlier, while submitting the chargesheet, the CBI counsel had prayed to the court that it take cognizance and urged it to issue non-bailable arrest warrants against the couple.

Bihar Governor V C Pande had granted sanction to the CBI to prosecute them in the DA case, an offshoot of the multi-crore fodder scam, on March 11. Incidentally, Rabri Devi was sworn in as the Chief Minister on the same day after the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government resigned just before the vote of confidence.

Reacting to the development, Laloo Prasad Yadav firmly rejected the Opposition demand for resignation of Rabri Devi in the wake of the CBI chargesheeting her even as the NDA mounted pressure on her to demit office.

"There is no question of Rabri quitting office following the CBI chargesheet. When L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi can continue in the government after being chargesheeted (in the Babri Masjid case), where is the need for Rabri to quit?" Laloo asked while rejecting the Opposition demand for Rabri’s resignation at a press conference.

"The constitution guarantees equality before law. No double standards can be adopted for Advani and Rabri," he said and accused the Centre of using the CBI as a tool to harass political opponents.

Accusing the NDA of plotting a conspiracy to grab power in Bihar through the back door after being rejected by the people in assembly elections, Laloo questioned the CBI’s authority to probe the DA case when the matter was pending before the Income Tax authorities.

"The CBI has always been prejudiced against us…. the official residence of Rabri Devi was searched even when her name did not figure anywhere in the fodder scam," he said.

Laloo’s counsel Janardan Rai told reporters that the RJD president, in his petition before the court, had contended that the CBI had no authority to institute the case because the state government had not handed it over to the agency for investigation.

According to settled norms, Rai said, the CBI had to secure the permission of the state government for instituting fresh cases relating to the fodder scam of which the disproportionate assets case was an offshoot.

Since neither the Patna High Court nor the Supreme Court has issued any order for instituting the disproportionate assets case, the CBI has no authority to take such an action on its own, he said.