Plea for change of judge in Laccfed trial rejected

Lucknow: In a major setback to four former ministers of the Bahujan Samaj Party including Rangnath Mishra, Badshah Singh, Chandra Dev Ram Yadav and Babu Singh Kushwaha and many other accused in the LACCFED case, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Thursday rejected plea of one of the accused seeking trial of the case before additional sessions judge Lalloo Singh instead of judge Akhilesh Dubey presently posted in the special court of ante corruption [UPSEB].The bench further directed the trial court to expedite hearing in view of the apex court’s July 14, directives to decide the trial within three months, though the period had already expired.
The bench declined to accept arguments that a judge who conducted the trial must decide it too in the light of provisions of section 326, CrPC.
In his order Justice V C Gupta ruled that after transfer of a judge from the court, the incumbent judge would proceed further from the stage the previous incumbent left the trial.
Trial proceedings of the alleged multi-crore rupee scam were being conducted before the court of special judge (anti-corruption). ADJ Lalloo Singh was presiding judge of the court. After recording evidence on many dates, Singh had posted the matter on September 3, to hear arguments and writing judgment. Meanwhile, he was transferred from the court and ADJ Akhilesh Dubey was posted in his place.