Lalu not guilty: SC stands by CBI court

The Bihar government does not have the authority to challenge the acquittal of Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi in the case relating to their alleged possession of disproportionate assets, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

The Bihar government does not have the authority to challenge the acquittal of Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi in the case relating to their alleged possession of disproportionate assets, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

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A special CBI court had discharged Prasad and Rabri in the disproportionate assets case in December 2006. The Bihar government challenged the decision in the Patna High Court, which agreed to admit the appeal. Prasad and the CBI then appealed in turn to the Supreme Court, saying the Bihar government had no right to question the CBI court's decision.

Agreeing with them, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan said: “We hold that the state government is not competent to direct its public prosecutor to appeal.”

The bench said the Centre and the CBI alone had the right to challenge the judgment.

However, Prasad's legal troubles are still not behind him. There are six other CBI lodged cases against him in different courts of Bihar and Jharkhand, all relating to the fodder scam.