Ranchi, Aug. 3: Senior police officer Sunil Kumar today appeared as a witness for Lalu Prasad in fodder scam case hearings in Ranchi, claiming the CBI was biased in its attempt to arrest the then Bihar chief minister in 1997 and had even tried to take the help of the army.
With him was Lalu's former secretary Mukund Prasad, who gave out names of IAS and IPS officers whose services were extended by the former chief minister. But none of those he mentioned belonged to the animal husbandry department, many officials of which figured in CBI chargesheets.
After the deposition of both witnesses, the court of S.S. Prasad, that was hearing RC 68A/96 pertaining to the alleged misappropriation of Rs 37.62 crore from the Chaibasa treasury, called for the report of the Dorai Committee that investigated allegations that CBI sought the help of the army's Danapur division to arrest Lalu on July 30, 1997.
The court of Shivpal Singh, hearing RC 64A/96 pertaining to the illegal withdrawal of Rs 85 lakh from Deoghar treasury, however, only recorded Prasad's statement and not that of Sunil Kumar, who is now posted as the director-general-cum-chief managing director of Bihar Police Building Construction Corporation.
Kumar, a 1987 IPS officer of the Bihar cadre who was posted as SSP of Patna in July 1997 when the CBI was trying to arrest Lalu, had told the Dorai Committee that the agency had contacted the army and sought its help.
Lalu's lawyer Chitranjan Prasad said, "In RC 20A/96 case in which Lalu Prasad was convicted by the CBI court, the defence had produced Dorai Committee report to claim that the CBI had acted with mala fide intention. The court hearing RC 68A/96 has called for relevant documents for further trial."
In his statement before the court of S.S. Prasad, Kumar recalled that on July 25, 1997, the CBI was in possession of an arrest warrant against Lalu, but the agency did not provide him a copy. At the time, Kumar said, he had stepped up security at Lalu's 1 Aney Marg residence in Patna as a precautionary measure.
Later, on July 30, 1997, when Lalu surrendered before a local court in Patna, Kumar claimed he had come to know that the CBI had approached the army for his arrest.
During cross examination, CBI lawyer B.M.P. Singh told the court that as SSP, Kumar was acting at the behest of Lalu and that on the day Lalu was arrested, Kumar did not intervene to pacify belligerent RJD supporters who had gathered at the court.
After today's hearings, Lalu addressed the media and criticised the BJP government at the Centre for creating an Emergency-like situation in the country. He said the Narendra Modi government was using the CBI and income-tax to terrorise Opposition parties.
"The I-T raid against the Karnataka energy minister was intended to demoralise the Congress. The Pakistan prime minister had to go following a Supreme Court order after his name surfaced in the Panama papers. There are as many as 424 Indians whose names figure in the Panama papers. Where is Amit Shah, where is Modi? Why don't you carry out raids against them?" he said.
On Nitish Kumar, who dumped the Mahagathbandhan and joined the NDA, Lalu said the BJP seemed to be in the know of some secret facts about the JDU leader. "Nitish had sworn not to join hands with the BJP... I have now given him the name of Palturam (turncoat)," he said.
