Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is in jail, on Friday got bail from the Jharkhand High Court in a case of fraudulent withdrawal of ₹139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury of Jharkhand. The court, while granting the bail, imposed a fine of ₹10 lakh on him.
“The court accepted our petition for suspension of the sentence in the case and granted bail to Mr. Prasad as he has already served over half of the five–year sentence in the case. Though the CBI opposed the bail saying he has not served half the sentence yet, the court granted bail,” said Prabhat Kumar, Mr. Prasad’s lawyer, in Ranchi while, adding, “The court has, though, imposed ₹10 lakh fine on Mr. Prasad”.
The Doranda treasury case is the fifth case related to the ₹950–crore fodder scam against the former Bihar Chief Minister, who has been in jail for the last 42 months. The fodder scam is a set of 55 cases which were later clubbed into fewer cases relating to alleged illegal withdrawal of money from districts treasuries in undivided Bihar, mostly between 1992–1995.
Suffering from multiple ailments, Mr. Prasad is now in the All–India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. In the other four cases, Mr. Prasad has already been granted bail.
Mr. Prasad has been in Birsa Munda central jail in Ranchi since December 2017. A few months ago, he had gone to Ranchi to physically appear in the court in connection with the Doranda case but was admitted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) after his health deteriorated there. Later, he was shifted to AIIMS in Delhi for medical attention. “He [Mr. Prasad] is now likely to come out of jail by Tuesday–Wednesday”, his lawyer said.
An Iftar party has been arranged on Friday by Tejashwi Yadav, Mr. Prasad’s younger son and heir apparent, at 10 Circular Road, official residence of Rabri Devi, wife of Mr. Prasad.
“We’re happy that he [Mr. Prasad] has got bail but his health condition is not good. On this day of Iftar, the prayer of everyone has been heard,” Mr. Tejashwi Yadav told media persons. “What can be a better gift from Allah than our leader Lalu Prasad getting bail and coming out of jail soon,” said a senior RJD leader.
The multi–crore Animal Husbandry Department case, popularly known as the fodder scam case, in which fodder for animals was said to be ferried on trucks and lorries bearing registration numbers of scooters and motorcycles, was busted in the mid–1990s. Officials of the Animal Husbandry Department had allegedly withdrawn money from treasuries in cahoots with politicians against fake bills for fodder, medicine and purchase of artificial insemination equipment.
