Hearing on discharge petition of Dr Jagannath Mishra

Patna, Jun 12 (UNI) Special CBI judge of Patna Munilal Paswan today heard the discharge petitions of the former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and other person accused in the multi-crore rupee fodder scam.

Counsels of Dr Mishra and a supplier Prakash Lal while arguing on the petitions pleaded their clients were innocent and prayed to discharge them from the case.

The case was related to fraudulent withdrawal of more than Rs 46 lakh from Bhagalpur and Banka treasuries on the basis of fake bills.

Altogether, 40 people had been accused, including Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in the case. Discharge petitions of 11 accused, including Mr Prasad, were pending in the court. The next hearing in the case would be held tomorrow.

Meanwhile, hearing against former Director of Animal Husbandry Department Ramraj Ram continued before the same designated court today in a disproportionate assets case, an offshoot of fodder scam.

The CBI today produced its witness, former sub-registrar of Patna Mithilesh Kumar in the case. According to the charges, Dr Ram had amassed wealth of above Rs 44 lakhs disproportionate to his known sources of income from 1990 to 1996.

UNI/XC/DH/SJC AK HT1742