Jagannath Mishra (top) and Lalu Prasad. Telegraph pictures

Patna, Jan. 19: The special CBI court today put the trial of the multi-crore fodder scam case on fast track, ordering daily hearings till the disposal of all discharge petitions.

Special CBI judge Vijay Kumar Jain also directed that all accused, who have filed discharge petitions, need to be physically present in the court during the hearings.

On December 28, last year, the court had directed all the 35 accused, including high-profile politicians such as Lalu Prasad, Jagannath Mishra, R.K. Rana, Vidya Sagar Nishad and Jagdish Sharma, to be physically present on the next date of hearing, January 19.

Of 35 accused, 30 persons, including Jagannath Mishra, were present in a jam-packed court room, while five others, including Lalu, Dhruva Bhagat and others, were not present citing poor health.

Mishra, while coming out of the court, told reporters: “I am innocent and have been implicated by the investigating agency (CBI).”

Lalu, however, had filed an application seeking exoneration from personal presence because of ill-health for which he was being treated in Delhi hospital and the death of his elder brother’s wife.

Taking note, the court passed a general order the accused, who cited ill-health as the reason for being exonerated from personal appearance, should first report to the court after recuperating in person.

Seven of the accused — Lalu Prasad, Jagannath Mishra, Janardan Sharma, N.K. Tiwari, Nitai Kumar Sen, Om Prakash and A. Arumugam — had filed discharge petitions in February 2006, seeking the charges levelled against them by the CBI be dropped.

Of the seven discharge petitions, hearing on three petitions have remained inconclusive. Hearing on these petitions could not be completed because the CBI did not provide the relevant documents to the accused, leading to the delay in framing of the charges against the accused.

The CBI, however, had maintained all through the years that it has already provided the documents to the accused to defend themselves in the case.

So long as these discharge petitions are not disposed of, the process of framing of charges cannot proceed further. It was only when the charges were framed, the actual trial would begin.

The court would take up the discharge petitions of Om Prakash and A. Arumugam (former IAS officer) tomorrow, while that of Mishra would be heard next Monday (January 24). All these three accused would have to be physically present in the court at the time of hearing as per the court’s direction.

Of the 35 accused, two persons — R.K. Das and Shailendra Prasad Singh — have been made approver with CBI’s consent.

However, another accused, Mahendra Prasad, submitted before the court that he wanted to become the approver and was ready to confess his guilt but the court rejected his plea.