Delhi High Court on Monday declined to stay the trial against RJD leader Lalu Prasad and asked the CBI to file its response on his petition challenging the order framing charges against him in the IRCTC hotels case.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Maninder Singh, appearing for Lalu, urged the high court to stay the trial court proceedings.

The request was declined by Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, who said she cannot issue an order on the stay application without hearing the response of the probe agency.

“You (Lalu) should have come earlier. You didn’t come. The trial court order was passed earlier,” Justice Sharma said while issuing notice to the CBI on Lalu’s appeal. The court slated the matter for further hearing on January 14.

The trial court order had come a month before the Bihar Assembly elections, in which the RJD suffered a massive defeat.

On October 13, 2025, the trial court framed charges against the accused persons — Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and 11 others — for the alleged offences of cheating and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The case relates to alleged irregularities in awarding operational contracts of two IRCTC hotels to a private firm when Lalu was railway minister.

The court observed that it is a “prima facie” case against the accused, referring to Lalu as the fountainhead of the conspiracy.

According to the CBI chargesheet, a conspiracy was allegedly hatched between 2004 and 2014 in pursuance of which the BNR hotels of the Indian Railways in Puri and Ranchi were first transferred to IRCTC and later, the Patna-based Sujata Hotels Pvt Ltd was granted the lease for operations, maintenance and upkeep.

The agency alleged that the tender process was rigged, manipulated and the conditions were tweaked to help Sujata Hotels.