Lalu appears before CBI court in fodder scam case

Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday appeared before a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Patna in connection with a case relating to the fodder scam.

Special CBI judge Prajesh Kumar, who had last week ordered the former Bihar chief minister to appear in person, fixed November 30 as the next date of hearing.

"On the next date, the court will examine the witnesses who number about 200. On that date, Lalu ji has not been asked to appear. However, he will appear whenever the court asks him to do so," Yadav's counsel Sudhir Sinha told reporters.

Prasad was summoned here in connection with alleged fraudulent withdrawal of about Rs 1 crore from the treasury in Banka district.

He has been convicted in similar cases pertaining to a number of other districts of Jharkhand, which were part of undivided Bihar when he ruled the state in the 1990s.

Currently out on bail, the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo has been staying in Delhi with his eldest daughter Misa, where he has been under strict medical supervision.

The septuagenarian suffers from a number of ailments, which include diabetes, cardiac and renal problems.