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SC orders Laloo, Mishra moved into real jail

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court today directed Bihar's inspector-general of prisons to shift former chief ministers Laloo Prasad Yadav and Dr Jagannath Mishra, accused in the Rs 9.5 billion fodder scandal, from the Bihar Military Police campus to the Adarsh Central Jail at Beur in Patna.

Justices M K Mukherjee, S P Kurdukar and K T Thomas gave the direction on being told, while hearing the politicians' bail petitions, that they had been lodged in the BMP campus, which has been notified as a jail, instead of the central jail as ordered by the special judge trying cases relating to the scandal.

"First lodge them in a regular jail before we hear arguments on their bail plea," the judges said. "This is a clear case of disobedience of the court's order."

The court has fixed November 30 for hearing the bail pleas of Yadav, Mishra and four others.

All six accused had approached the Supreme Court after the Patna high court refused them bail.

The judges said, "Before we decide these petitions on merits, we want to ensure compliance of the order of the special judge, dated October 28 this year, whereby he had directed the petitioners to be remanded to judicial custody and detained in Adarsh Central Jail at Beur in Patna.

"As we are told, instead of complying with the said directive, the petitioners have been kept in the IPS mess at BMP-5 campus which has been notified as the jail.

"We therefore direct the I-G (prisons) to take immediate steps to comply with the above direction of the special judge and report compliance thereof to the court by 10.30am tomorrow.

"The I-G (prisons) is also directed to take all measures in co-ordination with the I-G police for the security of the prisoners while in jail."

UNI

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