File photo: Lalu Prasad Yadav
Rashtriya Janata Dal, or RJD, president Lalu Prasad Yadav, while recording his statement in a case related to the fodder scam today, boasted about granting extensions to several officials, including father-in-law of present CBI director Ranjeet Sinha, during his tenure as the Bihar Chief Minister.
The former Chief Minister made the confession while recording his statement under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (power to examine the accused) in a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation, or CBI, in a case related to the fodder scam, pertaining to illegal withdrawal of Rs 96 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury in the 1990s.
Mr Yadav was convicted in another case related to the fodder scam in September last year and sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in December and subsequently released.
Mr Yadav, during the course of his questioning today, was asked by Special CBI judge A K Rai if he had, during his stint as the Chief Minister, granted extensions to several of the fodder scam accused.
Mr Yadav, who argued his own case for over four hours, pleaded that he had granted extensions to several officials, including Mr Gajendra Narayan, a senior officer of the Indian Police Service from the Bihar cadre, who also happens to be the father-in-law of current CBI Director Ranjeet Sinha.
Mr Prasad also claimed that he had granted an extension to the father of then Superintendent of Police in CBI Rakesh Asthana, who is now a senior officer posted in Gujarat.
But sources refuted this claim, pointing out that Mr Asthana's father, a teacher in a prestigious school, had retired in 1981 while Mr Prasad became the Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time only in March 1990.