Ranchi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a petition at Jharkhand High Court appealing to increase the jail term of Rashtriya Janata Dal, leader and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was granted bail in the Doranda Treasury case.
A bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Subhash Chand has directed to send the case to the competent bench after hearing. In this case, the CBI argued that the special court sentenced other convicts including RK Rana and Jagdish Sharma to five and seven year jail terms respectively while Yadav was sentenced to three and a half years. CBI further stated that Yadav was among the main conspirators in the fodder scam and so he should be sentenced to seven years.
Lalu Yadav's lawyer Prabhat Kumar told ETV Bharat that it is to be seen whether this case goes to a single bench or a division bench. He said that CBI has also given a petition to increase the punishment of other convicts. He said that the decision of the CBI special court has been challenged in the High Court. Yadav is on bail but CBI has appealed to increase the sentence, he added.
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Yadav, aged 74 years, was convicted in several fodder scams but is currently on bail due to his poor health condition. Yadav had served as the finance minister along with being the chief minister when the scam had occurred. He was allegedly involved in the irregularities involving the animal husbandry department. Five courts found Yadav guilty and he was allegedly involved in misappropriation of funds and withdrawing money fraudulently from Doranda, Deoghar, Dumka and Chaibasa treasuries in Jharkhand.
