The Jharkhand High Court will hear a bail plea filed by jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in a fodder scam case. A bench of justice Aparesh Kumar Singh will hear the bail plea filed by Lalu seeking relief in the Doranda treasury case.
Prasad was convicted by a Ranchi CBI court in February in the animal husbandary scam pertaining to the withdrawal of Rs 139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury during 1995-96 when he was the Chief Minister of erstwhile undivided Bihar. He was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for five years and pay a fine of Rs 60 lakh. This was Lalu’s fifth conviction in a series of fodder scam cases.
Prasad, who was on bail, had surrendered before the CBI court and is in custody since February 15. The former Bihar CM was then shifted to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences here for monitoring of his medical condition.
The fodder scam is pegged at Rs 950 crore. The money was withdrawn from various treasuries through fake challans and bills by the animal husbandary department. Prasad, who was the CM at the time, also held the portfolio of the finance department and had received huge kickbacks.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court earlier this week agreed to examine pleas filed by the CBI challenging two orders of the Jharkhand High Court granting bail to Lalu in the multi-crore rupees fodder scam.
Lalu was granted bail by the High Court on April 17, 2021, in the Dumka treasury case of the multi-crore rupees fodder scam on completion of half the sentence period, paving way for his release from jail. While on October 9, 2020, the High Court had granted bail to him in a fodder scam case involving the illegal withdrawal of funds from the Chaibasa treasury.
While sentencing Prasad in the Dumka case on March 24, 2018, to 14 years in jail, a special CBI court of Ranchi had also imposed a fine of Rs 60 lakh, Rs 30 lakh each under IPC sections and corruption Act. The case is related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury in the early 1990s.
Prasad had acquired bail in three other cases of the fodder scam-Deogarh, Chaibasa, and Ranchi’s Doranda treasury cases- and was waiting for judgement in the Dumka case.
The Rs 950 crore fodder scam took place in the Animal Husbandry department in undivided Bihar when Prasad was the Chief Minister.
News Credit: India TV News
