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Court refuses bail to Laloo, Mishra

Soroor Ahmed and Kanhaiya Bhelari in Patna

The designated Central Bureau of Investigation court Friday rejected bail to former Bihar chief ministers Laloo Prasad Yadav and Dr Jagannath Mishra, and five others, in the animal husbandry case.

Justice S K Lal, however, freed former state animal husbandry minister Bhola Ram Toofani on health grounds.

The one-minute court order, which reduced Laloo Yadav and Mishra to an improvised jail at the Bihar military police guesthouse for the next couple of months, came at 1600 hours.

The accused are likely to move the Patna high court Monday. If their plea is rejected again, they would approach the Supreme Court.

As the high court normally does not attach much urgency to regular bail applications, the early release of the duo is not likely, legal experts feel.

While Yadav and Dr Mishra were returned to their air-conditioned jail, Toofani is undergoing treatment for kidney disorders in the Patna medical college hospital. Like last year, this time, too, politicians and officials are making a beeline to the guesthouse.

The CBI prosecutor pleaded that the accused could tamper with evidence, pre-empt trial and cause injury to witnesses if they were freed.

The counsels for the petitioners argued the CBI has failed to make out a proper case and were charging them on 'suspicion and flimsy grounds'.

The court premises wore a deserted look. There were hardly any police personnel in the vicinity. Even Rajinder Singh and R K Jain, the two senior counsels of Laloo Yadav and Dr Mishra, were absent when the order came.

The RJD, meanwhile, claimed that the Union government was responsible for Yadav's arrest. They alleged that the BJP was avenging the bloody nose it got when President K R Narayanan rejected the Cabinet's recommendation for President's rule in Bihar.

Pleading bail, Shakil Ahmed Khan, one of Laloo Yadav's lawyers and RJD's Bihar spokesman, alleged there was a 'conspiracy' to put his client behind bars.

The judge, however, asked him not to 'bring in politics'.

UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, too, had on Thursday charged the BJP with implicating Laloo Yadav to prevent him from campaigning in the coming assembly elections.

Meanwhile, sources close to Laloo Prasad Yadav said the former chief minister was consulting his legal counsel to move the high court for his regular bail. Dr Mishra, too, is likely to do the same thing. "Laloo and Mishra, who are in the guest-house of the BMP, felt uneasy when they were informed about the rejection of their bail by none other than Sadhu Yadav, MLC and brother of the chief minister Rabri Devi over cellphone," the sources said.

With Laloo in 'jail', the scenario in the chief minister's residence has changed drastically. While the media has been completely barred entry, select ministers and bureaucrats are allowed in. "Again the BMP guesthouse is the centre of power. Ministers, MLAs and bureaucrats are being controlled from there through the mobile phone," said an IPS officer who was himself called up by Laloo two days back.

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