Congress tried hard but failed to stop Lalu’s arrest in fodder scam: Ex-CBI investigator

New Delhi, Oct 26 Apart from the pressure on him within the CBI to “spare” Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam, former CBI Joint Director Upendra Nath Biswas recalled on Sunday how the Congress unsuccessfully plotted behind-the-scenes political manoeuvring to shield its key ally and RJD chief from arrest in the Rs 950 crore scandal.

“The Congress mounted pressure on then Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda to stop me from arresting Lalu Prasad Yadav in the scam. When it failed in its objective, the Congress withdrew support to his government,” said Biswas, 84, who joined politics after retirement and served as a Minister in the West Bengal government.

In an exclusive interview with IANS, the retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer also criticised the all-out support extended to Lalu Prasad Yadav by the Congress during the controversial investigation in the mid-1990s.

“Lalu Prasad Yadav was mounting pressure on the Central government to save him from being arrested in the scam. He went to his mentor and the then Congress president Sitaram Kesri with a request to withdraw support to the Central government. And Kesri obliged,” said Biswas, crediting the close monitoring by courts for the CBI's success in securing convictions in 75 scam-related cases.

The former CBI officer said it was Congress President Kesari who advised Lalu Prasad Yadav to resign and make Rabri Devi the new Chief Minister of Bihar.

Sharing inside details of the hectic developments in Delhi’s power corridors while the CBI was filing cases in the fodder scam, the former CBI investigator said, “In his desperation to evade arrest, Lalu Prasad Yadav even approached the next Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral, with a plea to control me. But PM Gujral said ‘I am sorry’.”

The retired CBI official also recalled the attempts made by the then Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to evade arrest.

“The Supreme Court gave the orders to arrest Lalu Prasad Yadav. We had full power, and we went to his home. But he threw a ring of local police around his house and we were denied permission to go inside,” he said, reconstructing the night-long dramatic events.

He said an attempt was also made by CBI officers to seek help from the Army to enter the Chief Minister’s house. “The Army said we want it in writing. The Army also tried to contact the High Court judge who had approved taking their help for the arrest, but the Army authorities could not contact the judge.”

Lalu Prasad Yadav was later arrested with the help of the Bihar Police on July 29-30, 1997, a development which had a lasting negative impact on the veteran politician’s career.

The fodder scam unfolded during 1990-91 and 1995-96. As part of it, the then Bihar Animal Husbandry Department officials, in conspiracy with unscrupulous suppliers and others, withdrew and misappropriated hundreds of crores of rupees under the pretext of making payment to the suppliers, who submitted spurious/bogus bills falsely showing supply of feed, fodder and veterinary medicines.

It was further alleged that the amount so withdrawn was eventually misappropriated. During the investigation, the roles of bureaucrats, politicians, including the then Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo and Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and others came to the fore.

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