The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant relief to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in the CBI’s land-for-jobs case, turning down his plea to stay trial court proceedings linked to appointments during his tenure as Railway Minister between 2004 and 2009.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh told Yadav to pursue his main petition before the Delhi High Court, where he has sought to quash the CBI chargesheets.
“We will not stay. We will dismiss the appeal and we will say that let the main matter be decided. Why should we keep this small matter?” the bench remarked, as reported by LiveLaw.
While declining the stay, the Supreme Court said that Lalu Prasad could be exempted from personal appearance before the trial court in light of the circumstances. It clarified that the Delhi High Court would decide on his plea to quash the CBI chargesheets.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the case in May 2022, alleging that several Group D appointments in the West Central Railway were given in return for land parcels transferred to Yadav’s family members or close associates.
Yadav, a former Bihar chief minister, has called the charges politically motivated. His legal team has argued that the probe was initiated without the mandatory sanction required under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. They have also claimed that the investigation amounts to an abuse of legal process and reflects what they called a “jurisdictional error” driven by political vendetta.
