Patna: RJD leaders on Friday demanded that special CBI judge Shivpal Singh disclose who had called him up, a day after the judge, who has convicted Lalu Prasad in a fodder scam case and is yet to pronounce the sentence, said the RJD chief's "well-wishers have been calling me".
RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari said that instead of saying it in court, the judge should have registered a case against the callers.
"If anybody called the judge and is trying to influence his judgment it is a big crime and a police case should be registered against the caller. Strict action should be taken against the callers. The judge could have easily informed the police; the names and numbers must be disclosed," Tiwari said. "If the judge is sensitive about every minute thing then I am wondering how he has kept mum on such a serious matter. I do not think that anybody from the RJD has called up the judge. It is not possible. The BJP leaders must have called the judge to malign the RJD. That is very much possible," he added.
Tiwari is one of the four leaders, along with Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh of the RJD and Manish Tiwari of the Congress, who have been served a contempt of court notice for allegedly giving caste colour to Lalu's conviction.
Another senior RJD leader and former parliamentarian Jagadanand Singh said the judge should not make allegations without providing proof.
"Only the judge can tell who has called him what are their names and other details. Anybody can call anyone; you can call anyone taking my name. So until the judge discloses the names it is not good to level allegations," Jagadanand said.
Another RJD leader, Vijay Prakash, put a different spin.
"People who are in power have the status to call a judge; if we were in power, our leader would not have been making rounds of the CBI court," Vijay said. "But, yes, a leader like Nitish Kumar, who is involved in the Srijan scam but still the CBI is not doing anything against him, can call a judge. For that matter, even the Prime Minister can call up a judge; but not RJD leaders."
