J’khand HC grants 6 week provisional bail to Lalu on medical ground

RANCHI, May 11: The Jharkhand High Court today granted Six-week provisional bail to former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad on medical ground after hearing all the three fodder scam cases in which he is convicted.

The bail, granted by Justice Apresh Kumar Singh, would be effective from the day he is released from jail.

He will have to report back on May 14 after completion of the parole to file bail bond and then he will be released, Prasad’s advocate Prabhat Kumar said.

The RJD chief flew to Patna last evening after he was granted a three-day parole to attend his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav’s marriage on Saturday.

On April 20, the high court had sought medical reports to hear the provisional bail petition on medical ground filed by Prasad in connection with fodder scam cases.

The court had sought AIIMS report and asked the CBI to file a counter affidavit. Prasad went to AIIMS for treatment and came back to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences on May 1.

Advocate Kumar said they had filed for provisional bail in all the three cases — Chaibasa, Dumka and Deoghar treasuries — and the court gave relief.

Justice Singh had on February 23 rejected the bail petition of Prasad in connection with illegal withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deogarh treasury during the 1990s.

Prasad has been in jail from December 23 after being convicted in the Deoghar treasury case for three-and-a-half years before being convicted in the Chaibasa Treasury case (five years) and the Dumka Treasury case (14 years).

The over Rs 900 crore fodder scam cases are related to illegal withdrawal of money from Government treasury by the Animal Husbandry department in undivided Bihar in the 1990s when RJD was in Government and Prasad the chief minister. (PTI)