Home India News Apex court dismisses plea for graft probe against Lalu

Apex court dismisses plea for graft probe against Lalu

By IANS,

New Delhi : The Supreme Court Wednesday refused to entertain a lawsuit seeking a probe into allegations that Railways Minister Lalu Prasad has secured massive landed property in Bihar by providing jobs and contracts of his ministry to one and all.

A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan asked the petitioner, former parliamentarian Rajeev Ranjan Singh Lallan, to wait till Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided on his representation for a probe.

The bench, which also included Justice P. Sathasivam, asked senior counsel Rajiv Dhawan, appearing for the former Lok Sabha member, to transmit all the information at his disposal to the Central Vigilance Commission.

“You appear to have much more information,” remarked the bench, adding, however, that it was not possible for it to order any probe.

Arguing for a probe into the railways minister’s alleged practice of giving jobs and contracts in lieu of land, Dhawan said the prime minister was not able to order a probe as Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was extending support to the government.

In his petition, Lallan said Lalu Prasad gave railways jobs even to a witness, who had deposed in his favour in a case involving corruption during his stint as Bihar chief minister.

The former parliamentarian also annexed documents purportedly showing transfer of land to the minister from the people who allegedly got jobs or contracts.

Lallan also alleged in his petition that state-owned Life Insurance of Corporation of India had paid record commission money to one of the minister’s daughters.