Lalu gets bail in one fodder scam case, but will have to stay behind bars

The Jharkhand High Court on Friday (October 9) granted bail to RJD chief Lalu Prasad in the Chaibasa treasury case linked to the fodder scam. But the former CM will remain in jail since the Dumka treasury case is pending.

The High Court asked Lalu to submit two personal bonds of ₹50,000 each and deposit a penalty of ₹2lakh for securing bail.

This case, RC 68(A) / 1996, refers to the fraudulence of ₹33.67 crore from Chaibasa (now in Jharkhand) district treasury during 1992-93 when Lalu was the chief minister of undivided Bihar.

On January 24, 2018, a special CBI court in Ranchi had convicted Lalu and former chief minister Jagannath Mishra in the third case of multi-crore fodder scam related to the fraudulent withdrawal of money from the Chaibasa treasury in 1990s. The court had handed both Lalu and Jagannath a jail term of five years, besides a fine of ₹ 5 lakh each. A total of 50 accused were convicted in the case while six were discharged.

Apart from Lalu, the other main accused convicted in the case were R.K. Rana, Vidyasagar Nishad, Dhruv Bhagat, former chief secretary Sajal Chakraborty, IAS officials Phool Chand Singh and Mahesh Prasad.

Lalu, 72, is currently serving time in Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi. He has been convicted in six cases in the misappropriation of public funds and there have been varying sentences awarded in these cases. He has been in prison since 2017. Lalu has been convicted and sentenced to 3.5 years, 5 years and 14 years of jail terms in three fodder scam cases.

He will not be directly associated with the Bihar polls which will be held in three phases starting October 28. Lalu Prasad has been banned from contesting polls and disqualified from Parliament.

Lalu is under treatment Jharkhand’s premier Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) as he has been suffering from ‘Type 2’ diabetes and hypertension. He is a chronic kidney patient.