Delhi court seeks response from CBI on Rabri Devi plea to transfer IRCTC case from Judge Vishal Gogne

A Delhi court on Wednesday sought the response of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to the plea filed by former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi seeking transfer of a case related to to IRCTC scam from Judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Courts to any other judge.

Principal District and Sessions Judge Dinesh Bhatt issued notice to CBI and asked the agency to file its response by December 6.

Devi moved the Court seeking transfer of four cases pending before Judge Gogne, where she and several of her family members have been made accused.

These include the IRCTC scam case and the alleged cash-for-jobs case, and the money laundering proceedings associated with them.

However, the Court issued notice today only with respect to one of the four cases since appropriate entities were not made parties to the plea in the three other cases.

Hence, the Court asked Devi to file amended plea with respect to those three cases.

On October 13, Judge Gogne had framed criminal charges against Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and several others in the IRCTC case.

In her, plea Rabri Devi has accused the judge of being biased and stated that he is conducting the trials against her and her family members with a premeditated mind.

According to her plea, the judge is "unduly inclined" towards the prosecution.

"That the conduct of the Ld. Special Judge, on various occasions during the course of proceedings in all the above mentioned cases, appears to be unduly inclined towards the prosecution and bias which can be seen from a number of instances of the case proceedings/orders itself, which has created a reasonable apprehension of bias in the mind of the Applicant and in the interest of just, equity and fair play the cases needs t o be transferred to some other court of the competent jurisdiction," the application said.

The judge's conduct affects the neutrality expected from him and has created a "reasonable likelihood of bias" in Devi's mind, the plea alleged.

In the IRCTC case, the CBI has alleged that Lalu Yadav and his family accepted prime land and shares as a bribe for awarding contracts to a private firm when he was the Union Railway Minister.

In this case, the Court framed charges against the Yadav family.

Meanwhile, in the cash-for-jobs case, the allegation is that during Lalu Yadav's tenure as Union Railway Minister, various residents of Bihar were given jobs after they transferred their land to Yadav and his family members.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is prosecuting Yadav and his family members for alleged money laundering in the cases.