RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Thursday appeared before a court in Hajipur, Bihar in a case in which he is accused of making caste based remarks during the 2015 Bihar assembly election campaign and violating the model of conduct.
His statement was recorded at he court of additional chief judicial magistrate Smita Raj in connection with the case.
During the hearing Mr Prasad, who is serving prison terms in multiple fodder scam cases, denied the charges levelled against him in the FIR.
His counsel Shyam Babu said he pleaded innocence before the court.
"Lalu ji said he had not used any word that would hurt anyone," the advocate added.
The RJD supremo launching the poll campaign of his son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav at Raghopur on September 27, 2015, had allegedly described the assembly election as a direct fight between "the backward and forward castes" and gave a call to the Yadav and other backward castes to rally behind the RJD-led alliance then to defeat NDA.
An FIR was later registered against him at the Ganga Bridge police station on the basis of the statement of then circle officer, who was deputed as magistrate during the poll meeting.
Lalu Prasad had recently appealed before a special CBI court for release of his passport in order to renew it as he may need to travel abroad for a possible kidney transplant.
The 73-year-old RJD founder was granted bail by Jharkhand High Court in April as he has already served 41 months in jail, that is over half his term in the Doranda Treasury case in which Rs 139.35 crore was embezzled. A CBI special court had sentenced him to five years in prison in the case which is related to the fodder scam in February this year and slapped a fine of Rs 60 lakh on him.
In March 2018, he was given 14 years imprisonment after being convicted in the fraudulent transactions in Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries, which too were part of the fooder scam.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
