HC Reserves Order On Lalu's Bail Pleas In Fodder Scam Cases

The Jharkhand High Court on Friday reserved its order on bail petitions of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad in fodder scam cases related to fraudulent withdrawal of money from Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries.

Lalu is serving prison terms after being convicted in all three cases.

The hearing on the bail pleas was undertaken before the court of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh. Appearing on behalf of Lalu, noted lawyer Kapil Sibal argued that there was not even an iota of direct or circumstantial evidence of the RJD leader's conspiracy in fodder scam cases.

He added the fodder scam case RC 20A/1996 in which the Supreme Court has granted bail to Lalu is similar to that of the case related to Deoghar treasury in which Lalu is serving a prison term.

He also argued for bail on medical grounds, saying Lalu was suffering from several ailments like diabetes, hypertension and kidney malfunction and was being administered 17 tablets every day.

CBI lawyer Rajiv Sinha opposed the bail petition saying that Lalu was in the know of fraudulent withdrawals from various treasuries but did not take any step to stop it. He added that Lalu is already undergoing treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences Ranchi for his ailments.

Notably, the special CBI court had sentenced Lalu to different terms of prison after his conviction in the three fodder scam cases in 2017. The court awarded 14 years' jail term to Lalu in the case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from Dumka treasury. The RJD supremo was sentenced to five years in connection with defalcation of Rs 33.63 crore from Chaibasa treasury. He was also given prison term of 3.5 years in fodder scam related to illegal withdrawal of Rs 89 lakh from Deoghar treasury.