Lalu granted bail in fifth fodder scam case
RANCHI: The Jharkhand high court on Friday granted bail to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad in a fodder scam case related to illegal withdrawal of funds from a government treasury, in which a CBI special court had sentenced him to five years in prison, his lawyer said.
Prasad, 73, who has served as Bihar chief minister and as a Union minister, is in judicial custody and is presently undergoing medical treatment at AIIMS, New Delhi. He was convicted in February this year for embezzlement of over ₹139 crore from the Doranda treasury. His lawyers said Prasad is likely to be released from prison next week.
“The Jharkhand High court accepted our petition for suspension of the sentence as well granting him bail. We had pleaded that he has served half of his five-year sentence in this case. Prasad has already served 42 months in jail against the half sentence of 30 months .... The court granted bail,” said Prabhat Kumar, Prasad’s counsel.
While granting bail, the bench of justice Apresh Singh also directed Lalu to deport ₹10 lakh of the ₹60 lakh fine imposed by the trial court as part of his conviction, besides a surety of ₹1 lakh,” said Kumar.
“The HC order is expected to be communicated to the lower court by Tuesday. We will submit the bail bond and obtain release order. He won’t have to come back to Ranchi for the formalities. He could be released from AIIMS itself...” Kumar said.
With this, the RJD chief has secured bail in all five fodder scam cases in which he was convicted.