A Delhi court today directed RJD chief Lalu Prasad to appear before it on December 20 through video conference in connection with the IRCTC scam case.

Special Judge Arun Bharadwaj passed the directions after he was told that the accused could not appear before the court, owing to his ill health.

During the last hearing on October 6 also, the Lalu Prasad Yadav was not present in the court and the judge had directed the former Bihar CM to be produced via video conferencing on Nov 19.

The case pertains to allegations that Lalu Yadav, as railway minister, handed over the maintenance of two hotels run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, a subsidiary of the Indian Railways, in Ranchi and Puri to Sujata Hotel, a company owned by Vinay and Vijay Kochhar, in return for a prime plot of three acres in Patna through a benami company.

—India Legal Bureau