Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi move Delhi court against day-to-day trial in IRCTC scam case

Former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) President Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi have filed an application before a Delhi court requesting not to conduct a day-to-day trial in the IRCTC scam case in which they have been charged with criminal offences.

Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Courts had on October 13 framed criminal charges against Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and several others in the case.

On the same day, the Court had said that it will proceed with the day-to-day hearing in the case starting on October 27.

Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi's application came up for hearing before the Court today, when counsel appearing for the other accused also made similar requests.

Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appeared for Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi and said that a total of four criminal cases are pending against the Yadav family before the court, and in all cases, day-to-day proceedings have been ordered.

He said that the counsel representing the accused in all these cases are the same who require time to apply their minds to the presentation of the matters properly.

Singh further asked the Court to postpone the hearing by four weeks for them to go through the 18,000-page-long chargesheet and nearly 250 pages of the court order framing the charge.

“Your honour took four months to pass orders [on charge]. We thought of going through everything. Our clients are not here. The campaigning [for the Bihar elections] is going on. The entire scenario in the chargesheet has to be read in connection with and in correlation with the order on charge. There are certain aspects in your honour’s order that are not even in the chargesheet,” Singh said. 

CBI's Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) DP Singh opposed the request and said that as per the Supreme Court's directions, cases against Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) must be tried expeditiously.

"Last month, it was observed or may be directed [by the Supreme Court] that the Sessions Courts have lost touch with day-to-day trial," Judge Gogne remarked.

Ultimately, he asked Singh to supply a copy of the application to the CBI, which may file a response.

Meanwhile, the Court also conducted the chief examination of one of the prosecution witnesses. The witness would be called for cross-examination at a later stage.

The CBI's case is that Yadav and his family accepted prime land and shares as bribe for awarding contracts to a private firm when he was the Union Railway Minister.

As per the allegations, during Yadav's tenure as Railway Minister between 2004 to 2009, two IRCTC hotels in Ranchi and Puri were given on lease to a company named Sujata Hotels through a manipulated tender process. In return, land worth crores was transferred to a company allegedly linked to Lalu’s wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav at a fraction of its market value. 

The Yadav family has questioned the probe and said that there was no evidence against them. They maintain that the case is politically motivated. 

The Court on October 13 framed charges of corruption, criminal conspiracy and cheating against Lalu Yadav. Meanwhile, Tejashwi Yadav and Rabri Devi offences of cheating and conspiracy.

After they pleaded not guilty, the Court ordered a day-to-day trial in the case.

Apart from the members of the Yadav family, there are 10 other accused in the case.