Patna: Rulings in the 2G "scam" and the Adarsh Housing Society scandal have sparked hopes in the RJD leaders that party chief Lalu Prasad will also get relief from the higher courts.

"The BJP had earlier made false claims in the Rs 1.76 lakh crore 2G scam on which the special court Judge O.P. Saini slammed the CBI left and right," RJD national vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said over phone from Ranchi. "The truth has come out now. Even the Bombay High Court quashed the charges against former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh Housing Society scam. RJD is hopeful that similarly our leader will also be acquitted because the CBI has filed false case against Laluji."

Raghuvansh and other senior leaders including Lalu's younger son Tejashwi Prasasd Yadav, former finance minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui and party Bihar unit president Ram Chandra Purbey are camping in Ranchi along with many other senior leaders and MLAs. They shouted slogans on Sunday in support of Lalu at the Birsa Munda Central Jail where the RJD chief is imprisoned after he was convicted on Saturday in a fodder scam case.

Raghuvansh cited the example of the book Pursuit of Law and Order, by A.P. Durai the then director-general of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), who had submitted 27 pages of "sensational recommendations" in the fodder scam. The Centre's department of personnel and training had constituted a commission headed by Durai to examine the conduct of CBI officers in Patna who had demanded services of the army on 30th July, 1997, for execution of a non-bailable warrant on Lalu.

"Durai, who retired as DGP Karnataka, had clearly mentioned in his book how Laluji was wrongly framed," Raghuvansh said. "I may read from his book episode 26 (CBI Vs Lalu Yadav), page number 230, 231 and 232 that CBI had made Lalu an accused in seven of 49 cases. He also wrote that the CBI tried to wrongly frame Laluji and a few IAS officers. Even the media played a big role."

Lalu's only crime, Raghuvansh maintained, was giving equal opportunity to the downtrodden.

In Patna, a few senior RJD leaders including Abdul Gafoor, Shivanand Tiwari and Ramai Ram visited 10 Circular Road to meet Lalu's wife, Rabri Devi.

Breakaway JDU leader Sharad Yadav said: "The judiciary's gates are open for Laluji and I am sure that he will get bail from the higher court."