New Delhi: In a breather to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi in the disproportionate assets case, the CBI has opposed a Bihar Government appeal against their acquittal, contending that only it was empowered to challenge it.
The CBI said under the Delhi Police Special Establishment Act, it alone was empowered to appeal against the acquittal of the accused in cases probed by it. The CBI had earlier decided not to appeal against the December 18 acquittal of the two.
On behalf of CBI, Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam said under Sections (5) and (6) of the DPSA, by which the Central investigating agency is governed, the CBI probed only those cases in which an investigation has been sought by the state government or for which a court has issued a direction.
"Since investigation in this case was done on the directive of a bench of the Patna High Court monitoring the probe of the fodder scam cases, the state government could not have gone in appeal against the acquittal. Hence, the state's petition challenging the appeal should not be entertained," he argued.
Harish Salve, senior Supreme Court lawyer appearing for the Bihar Government, quoted Section 378 of Code of Criminal Procedure to defend the government's right to challenge the acquittal in cases where an offence was committed within the geographical limits of the state.
After hearing the arguments from the counsel of CBI and Bihar Government, Justice R K Dutta of the Patna High Court issued a notice to both Lalu and Rabri Devi on the state government's petition asking them why it should not be admitted.
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