Court summons Lalu for landing chopper without permission

Muzaffarpur/Bihar, May 5: A court here today (May 5) asked RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh to appear before it on July four in connection with a complaint against them for landing their helicopter on NH 28 at Maniari in Muzaffarpur district without authoritative permission on August 1, 2007.

Additional District Judge (VII) Choudhary Vijendra Kumar Roy summoned the duo after hearing a revision petition filed by advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha.

Ojha had charged Prasad and Singh with landing the chopper on the national highway during the aerial survey of floods on August 1, 2007 without prior permission from the district authorities.

He had also alleged that the landing of the chopper led to commotion and created law and order problems because of a stampede-like situation created by locals who had taken shelter on the road because of floods.

Earlier, the sub-divisional magistrate had dismissed his complaint on May 5, 2009. Ojha then filed the revision petition in the court of the district judge who transferred it to additional judge for hearing on merit.

While Lalu Prasad was Railway minister, Singh was the minister for Rural Development at that time.

PTI