Fodder scam: Jharkhand HC grants bail to Lalu Prasad Yadav

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav at his Delhi residence, Express Photo by Neeraj Priyadarshi.

The Jharkhand High Court Friday granted bail to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam relating to Deoghar treasury. Justice Apresh Kumar Singh granted Yadav’s bail plea in the case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar Treasury on the ground that he has served half of his prison term of three-and-a-half years.

However, the RJD chief will remain in jail as he is also serving sentence in two other related cases. Lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, he has been convicted in over Rs 900-crore fodder scam cases which pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of money from Deoghar, Dumka and two Chaibasa treasuries of various districts of undivided Bihar in the 1990s when RJD was in power and Yadav was the chief minister. He then received bail in one of the two Chaibasa-treasury related cases.

Yadav, is also facing a fourth fodder scam case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of money from Doranda Treasure.

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In April, the Supreme Court had dismissed Yadav’s arguments that he has been in jail for 24 months, saying in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him, 24 months was nothing.

Yadav has been in a prison here since December 2017 and is now under treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in the city.