Abhijay Raj Vaish, Pune
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has moved to the Supreme Court to challenge the bail granted to the former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Fodder scam case by the Jharkhand High Court. A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, heard the appeal and decided it for the next hearing on August 25.
The Jharkhand High Court had granted bail to the Rashtriya Janata Dal president in four cases related to fodder scams after he was sentenced to five years in prison along with a fine of Rs. 60 lakhs by a Special CBI court in February this year. The scam entailed the withdrawal of Rs. 950 crore from government treasuries for fabricated expenditure on fodder for cattle during Yadav’s term as the Chief Minister of Bihar.
The RJD supremo was earlier granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court on April 22, 2022, on account of his ill health after being convicted in three other fodder scam cases, including Deogarh, Dumka, and Chaibasa treasuries in Jharkhand, for 14 years.
The decision for bail was handed down after he had served 41 months in custody pertaining to this case. 99 people were accused in the Doranda Treasury case, out of which 24 were acquitted, with three-year jail terms being ruled for the other 46 accused last week.
The RJD chief is also under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which attached six immovable assets worth over 6.02 crore belonging to his family members in connection to the land-for-job scam.