Lalu Prasad had sought 'help' of Centre in fodder scam, offered to topple Nitish Kumar govt in return, claims Sushil Modi

“Later Lalu Prasad Yadav and Prem Gupta, both met Arun Jaitley and offered to topple Nitish Kumar government. Arun Jaitley clearly said that we can't interfere in CBI's functioning as it is an autonomous institution,” he claimed.

Sushil Modi

Panta: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi on Wednesday created quite a few ripples in the political circles after he claimed that former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD president Lalu Prasad had sought Centre’s ‘help’ in fodder scam probe and in return offered to overthrow the Nitish Kumar government. According to Modi, “When Jharkhand High Court gave the verdict in favour of Lalu Yadav that there is no need for a trial in other cases related to fodder scam, CBI went to SC challenging this decision.” He added, “When the CBI went to the Supreme Court, Lalu (Prasad) sent his messenger Prem Gupta to Arun Jaitley, asking to not let CBI appeal to the top court in the case. He said that if they get help '24 ghante mein Nitish Kumar ka ilaaj kar dunga'.” “Later Lalu Prasad Yadav and Prem Gupta, both met Arun Jaitley and offered to topple Nitish Kumar government. Arun Jaitley clearly said that we can't interfere in CBI's functioning as it is an autonomous institution,” he claimed. The three cases in connection to the fodder scam in which Prasad has been convicted are related to the over-Rs 900-crore fodder scam, which pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the treasuries in the Animal Husbandry department in the early 1990s. The RJD was in power in Bihar with Prasad as the chief minister when the scam had allegedly taken place. In the high court, the RJD chief cited old age and poor health for grant of bail. Yadav (71) said he was suffering from diabetes, blood pressure and other ailments and that he had already obtained bail in one of the fodder scam cases. He has been convicted for fraudulent withdrawal of money from the Deoghar, Dumka and two Chaibasa treasuries situated in Jharkhand. He is currently facing trial in another fodder scam case pertaining to the Doranda treasury and has been undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) at Ranchi for the last few months. In the high court, the RJD chief cited old age and poor health for grant of bail. Yadav (71) said he was suffering from diabetes, blood pressure and other ailments and that he had already obtained bail in one of the fodder scam cases.