PATNA, May 10: The CBI Director approached Bihar Governor A R Kidwai on Saturday to seek his sanction to prosecute Chief Minister Laloo Yadav and three State ministers in the conspiracy case, RC 20/96, in the Fodder scam. A special messenger carrying the request letter from director, Joginder Singh, along with the draft charge-sheet spread over 600 pages in four volumes, was handed over to the Principal Secretary to the Governor. The ministers against whom permission for prosecution has been sought are Bhola Ram Toofani (Animal Husbandry), Vidya Sagar Nishad (Labour Minister) and Tulsi Singh (Planning Minister and former animal husbandry minister). It also contains the name of three legislators.

It is for the first time that Singh has sent any letter under his own signature. Sources claimed that this was in reply to the Governor's allegation that the CBI Director has been creating confusion on the issue of filing charge-sheets.

Governor Kidwai said that he would thoroughly examine the documents before giving his sanction to the CBI to prosecute Chief Minister Laloo Yadav. The Chief Minister himself appeared to be quite shaken by the latest CBI move and refused to comment. ``I have nothing to say on it. I have other things to do'', Laloo told mediapersons.

According to sources, the abridged version of the charge-sheet handed over to the Governor mainly deals with Laloo's involvement in the fodder scam. The original charge-sheet runs into 11 volumes, spanning more than 2,000 pages.

The charge-sheet bears the name of 56 persons including former chief minister and Congress leader Jagannath Mishra, and Union Minister Chandradeo Verma. It is learnt that the CBI also handed over a copy of the draft proposal to the President seeking his permission to move against Union Minister Chandradeo Verma. The charge-sheet also indicts IAS officers Sajal Chakraborty, Phool Chand Singh, Karumugam and Mahesh Prasad. The others are AHD officials, Ram Raj Ram, Shyam Bihari Sinha, Kamla Prasad and K M Prasad. The names of two PAC chairmen also feature in the charge-sheet Jagdish Sharma and Dhruva Bhagat.

Governor Kidwai had rebuked the Director on Friday for creating confusion and giving premature information.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.