Fodder Scam: Supreme Court grants bail to Lalu Prasad

New Delhi, Dec 13: In a relief to RJD chief

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on Friday granted him bail in a fodder scam case.

Lalu Prasad was awarded five years' imprisonment by the Special Ranchi court for his alleged involvement in the fodder scam.

December 13 was fixed as the date for hearing the bail plea of former Bihar CM by a two-judge bench of the apex court.

Lalu, moved the apex court challenging the order of the Jharkhand High Court which had dismissed his bail plea.

Lalu, another former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and 43 others were on September 30, convicted by a special CBI court in the fodder scam case involving fraudulent withdrawal of 37.7 crore rupees from Chaibasa Treasury during the RJD regime.

He has been disqualified from the Lok Sabha after being convicted in the case and banned from contesting elections for six years.

The fodder scam also known as ''Chara Ghotala'' involved the siphoning of funds from the Bihar Government treasury. The alleged theft spanned over several years, and many Bihar state government administrative and elected officials across multiple administrations were allegedly engaged in it.

The fodder scam was unearthed in Bihar in 1996 when Lalu was the chief minister.

There were 44 accused in the case and 37 of them have already been granted bail and bail application of six others is under consideration of the trial court.

The court noted that out of five years' jail awarded to Lalu, he has already undergone one year of the sentence in two phases, which included incarceration for 10 months during the course of trial and another two months since he was convicted and sentenced to jail.

The apex court has left it to the Ranchi trial court to decide on the conditions to be imposed on Lalu before he is released on bail.

Rabri Devi's reaction

Reacting on Lalu's bail, his wife and former chief minister of Bihar Rabri Devi said had he been around, BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi couldn't have held a rally in Patna. Lalu had stopped BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani's chariot in October 1990 in Bihar when he was the chief minister got close to the minority voters.

Rabri Devi also said that JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar was finished and no more an enemy of the RJD. She said the real battle was against the BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections.

"We will go to the polls with full force," she said.

(With agency inputs)

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