Special court adjourns hearing on UP Cong chief's bail plea

A special court on Saturday adjourned the hearing on Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu's bail plea till June 1 after the prosecution submitted that the investigation was ongoing.

Lallu, arrested on May 20 for alleged forgery of documents of buses arranged by his party for ferrying stranded migrants during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, has filed the bail plea in the special court for cases involving MPs and MLAs. He is currently in judicial custody.

Special court judge P K Rai posted the matter for further hearing on June 1 after District Government Counsel (criminal cases) Manoj Kumar Tripathi sought more time to lay before the court the current status of the investigation.

Tripathi said three teams were probing into the matter.

"The investigating officer has also gone out of town for the purpose of investigation and as such it would be in the interest of justice to grant the prosecution some more time to lay before the court the current status of the investigation," he added.

Lallu was arrested on May 20 on allegations that he provided false documents regarding the buses for ferrying migrant workers back to Uttar Pradesh during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

He was arrested twice on that day -- first in Agra for sitting on a dharna against the Yogi Adityanath administration for not granting permission for the buses, arranged for the migrants by the Congress, to enter the state.

He was granted bail by an Agra court and released, but was arrested again there in connection with another case filed in Lucknow regarding forgery of documents of buses.

After the development in the court, UP Congress Media Convernor Lalan Kumar said, "The UP government is deliberately delaying the hearing and wants to scuttle the voice of a leader like Ajay Kumar Lallu, who fights for the poor, farmers, downtrodden and the oppressed."

The Congress earlier alleged that the special court could not hear the bail plea of Lallu as the prosecution failed to produce the case diary.

Meanwhile when contacted, UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya told PTI, "The Congress itself as a part of conspiracy had sent Ajay Lallu for a photo session, and they did not take the Epidemic Act seriously. As a result of which, a case was registered. He is in jail. It is a judicial process, and the state government has no role in this. If the court grants him bail, he will be released."

"I feel that some Congress leaders have pushed forward Lalluji to the forefront as a part of conspiracy, so that he goes to jail. The intention of the UP government and police is not bad. Our sympathies are with him (Lallu),"