HC refuses stay on Lalu trial, seeks CBI reply

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to stay for now the trial against RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, and asked the CBI to file its response to his plea challenging an order framing charges against him in the alleged IRCTC scam case.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said it cannot pass an order on the stay application without hearing or going through the reply of the probe agency.

The court issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Yadav’s petition and stay application, and listed the matter for further hearing on January 14. It also called for the trial court record of the case.

During the brief hearing, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Maninder Singh, representing Lalu Yadav, said they are seeking stay on the trial court proceedings and two witnesses have been examined in a month.

The high court said it will consider the stay application on January 14 after the CBI files its reply.

“Let them file a reply. You should have come earlier, you didn’t come. The trial court order was passed earlier,” Justice Sharma said.

The CBI’s counsel also sought time to file a reply in the matter.

On October 13, 2025, the trial court had framed charges against the accused persons -- Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and 11 others -- in the case for the alleged offences of cheating, criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The former union railway minister approached the high court assailing the trial court’s order in the case, which stems from alleged irregularities in the grant of operational contracts of two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels to a private firm.

According to the CBI chargesheet, a conspiracy was allegedly hatched between 2004 and 2014 in pursuance of which BNR hotels of the Indian Railways, located in Puri and Ranchi, were first transferred to IRCTC and later, for its operations, maintenance and upkeep, given on lease to Sujata Hotels Private Limited, which is based in Patna, Bihar.