Click to play videoPatna: The disproportionate assets case, in which Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi are the prime accused, has finally reached judgment stage after six long years.
With Lalu already in the special CBI court in Patna and all set to hear the judgement, all eyes are now fixed on the court.
If found guilty, the RJD chief could face up to seven years of imprisonment and a monetary fine.
"Our case from day one is that CBI has enhanced the valuation of property, they have reduced the expenditure of accused persons and they have enhanced the expenditure by duplication," says Lalu's advocate, Chitranjan Sinha.
Meanwhile, his political opponents are almost praying for his downfall. "As per the evidence, there should be 100 per cent conviction," says Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Sushil Kumar Modi.
It was after Lalu was implicated in the fodder scam that the disproportionate assets case was lodged against Bihar's most famous couple. The disproportionate assets offence against the duo is of Rs 46 lakh.
An FIR was filed against them in 1998 and both were chargesheeted by CBI in April 2000. It was during Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's brief tenure in 2000 that sanction for this case was given. In the past six years, 132 witnesses have been cross examined.
The final verdict on the case will have a strong political fallouts in Bihar and elsewhere and this could make or break Lalu's political future.
"It is rest assured that if Lalu is convicted, then he will have to resign from the union cabinet. But we have to wait for the result. I fear that Lalu has tried to influence the judicial process," says Modi.
In a season of judges cracking down on corrupt politicians, Lalu may have lost Bihar but the railway tracks have carried him as a new management guru to the IIMs.
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