On 14 February, the honorable apex court issued notice to the president of Rashtriya Janata Dal and the former Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, on a petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation which challenged the bail granted to him by the Jharkhand High Court.
The bench comprising of Chief Justice of India S A Bobde, Justices B R Gavai, and Surya Kant while hearing the petition challenging his bail granted in one of the fodder scam cases has sought for the RJD Chief’s response in the matter.
Earlier, on 12 July 2019, the Jharkhand High Court has passed an order stating that it had erroneously suspended the sentence awarded to Yadav in the case of fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh by him from the Deoghar treasury. Further, submitting that Yadav has already served half of his prison term of three-and-a-half years, the High Court has granted him bail.
However, the said order by the Jharkhand High Court was challenged by the Central Bureau of Investigation contending that Yadav was the kingpin and main conspirator involved in the fodder scam who is alleged to have fraudulently misappropriated government money while abusing his official position. The petition filed by CBI further alleged that he withdrew much more money than the actual allotments from the District Treasury in Deoghar.
As per reports, Yadav was convicted in four fodder scam cases pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of money from Deoghar, Dumka and Chaibasa treasuries in Jharkhand. Convicted in two cases for fraudulent withdrawals from the Chaibasa Treasury, he has secured bail in one of the Chaibasa cases and also in the Deoghar case. Subsequently, he is facing a fifth fodder scam case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the Doranda Treasury.
Reportedly, Yadav has been in a prison here since December 2017.
