Fodder scam: CBI moves SC challenging bail granted to Lalu Prasad

The CBI has moved the Supreme Court challenging the bail granted to RJD president Lalu Prasad in a case linked to fodder scam.

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday moved Supreme Court challenging Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's bail in the alleged fodder scam. The CBI mentioned its appeal before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. The apex court has agreed to hear the plea later this month. The central agency has approached the top court against the Jharkhand High Court’s April 22, 2022 order granting bail to Yadav in the case.

The Jharkhand High Court had granted bail to Lalu Prasad in the Doranda Treasury case, related to the fodder scam, in which a CBI special court had sentenced him to five years in prison.

74-year-old Yadav is presently temporarily out on bail because of ill health after his conviction in different fodder scam cases. Prasad was convicted in five fodder scam cases pertaining to the fraudulent withdrawal of money from Deoghar, Dumka, Chaibasa, and Doranda treasuries in Jharkhand.

In April 2022, Prasad’s lawyer had then said that the Jharkhand High Court granted bail to Lalu Prasad as he had already served 41 months in custody, which is more than half the period already served in this case.

The fodder scam pertains to unauthorized withdrawals totaling Rs 950 crore from different government treasuries, supposedly allocated for imaginary expenses on fodder and other needs for livestock, during Lalu Prasad Yadav's tenure as the Chief Minister of Bihar.

Out of the 99 individuals charged in the Doranda treasury case, 24 were found not guilty, while just last week, 46 of the accused were sentenced to three years of imprisonment.

Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, aged 74, had previously received a 14-year prison term across four other cases linked to the treasuries in Dumka, Deoghar, and Chaibasa in Jharkhand.