RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Aug.13: Hearing in the fodder scam case involving Rs 139.35 crore fraudulently withdrawn from the Doranda treasury was deferred till August 17 in the court of CBI special judge S.K.Shashi.
CBI lawyer B.M.P.Singh informed this saying the situation arose when the accused in case got divided taking mode of hearing.
“A section of 85 accused gave petition to give them an opportunity to challenge the order of mode of hearing in the high court while another section of 23 accused comprising Lalu Prasad was ready for the day to day hearing,” Singh said.
This is the biggest case of the fodder scam. The number of the cases is 47A/96. The list of accused includes RJD chief Lalu Prasad, former parliamentarian Jagdish Sharma besides Dr R.K.Rana, the then chairman of the public accounts committee, Dhruv Bhagat besides officials of the animal husbandry department. The CBI has already completed its argument in the case.
On August 8 all the accused had filed a petition that the case is in an argument stage and it is difficult to argue in a serious matter in virtual court. They had sought adjournment in the case till the beginning of hearing in physical mode. The court had deferred the hearing till August 11 asking the CBI to file a counter affidavit in the matter.
On August 11, the court dismissed the petition saying the hearing will take place on a day-to-day basis and lawyers of the accused will have the option to argue either in offline mode with due attention to social distancing norms or in online mode. Under social distancing norms, the court allowed only five in the court for the offline hearing.
