Jharkhand HC rejects Lalu’s bail petition in a fodder scam case

Shashank Shekhar

Ranchi : The Jharkhand High Court on February 23, 2018, rejected the bail petition of RJD Chief and former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad in a fodder scam case pertaining to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury.

It is a major setback to Lalu as the court rejected his bail petition saying he was the chief minister and finance minister during the scam period. The Public Accounts Committee kept the file for years but no action was taken. Dismissing Lalu’s plea, the court said all the scam cases seemed to have been done in his knowledge. Hence, the court is not inclined to release him on bail, it said.

A special CBI court had convicted Lalu in the case on December 23, 2017, and sentenced him to 42 months’ imprisonment. Lalu is in Birsa Munda jail, Ranchi, since December 23, 2017. He has so far been convicted in three fodder cases.

On September 30, 2013, he was convicted in RC 20 A/96 involving fraudulent drawl of Rs 37.7 crore from the Chaibasa treasury and convicted to five years of prison term. He, however, got bail in that case. A special CBI court had convicted him on January 24, 2018,  in a case bearing number RC-68A/96 related to the fradulent drawal of Rs 37.62 crore from the Chaibasa treasury and sentenced him to five years’ of imprisonment.

Lalu faces another two scam cases for illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka Treasury and Rs 184 crore from the Doranda Treasury.