RJD chief and former Bihar chief minister, on jail term for his role in multiple fodder scam related cases, is reportedly suffering from a slew of ailments
The Jharkhand High Court, on Friday (June 29), extended the provisional bail of ailing RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav for another six weeks on medical grounds in fodder scam cases.
Prasad, whose provisional bail was extended till July 3 last Friday, would now remain on bail till August 17.
The extension of the bail duration by Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh of the Jharkhand High Court was granted in three cases of multi-crore fodder scam related to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the Chaibasa, Deogarh and Dumka treasuries by the Animal Husbandry department in undivided Bihar during the 1990s when Lalu was the state’s chief minister.
The former Bihar chief minister has been undergoing treatment at the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai where he also underwent an operation of the fistula on last Sunday. Yadav’s close aide Bhola Yadav told news agency PTI that the RJD chief would remain in the Asian Heart Institute Hospital till doctors advise his release.
Pleading for the former Bihar chief minister, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi submitted that Yadav has undergone a fistula operation and is also a chronic diabetic patient. Singhvi added that the RJD chief also suffers from hypertension and other medical complications and needs time to recuperate at the hospital under observation of his doctors before he can be sent back to jail to serve his sentence.
CBI advocate Rajiv Sinha objected to Singhvi’s claims and said that the RJD chief can receive further treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science in Ranchi.
Hearing both sides, the bench of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh granted six weeks provisional bail on medical grounds to the RJD chief.
The bench had on May 11 granted six weeks provisional bail on medical grounds, which was to expire on June 27. On June 22, the bench of acting Chief Justice DN Patel extended it till July 3. The next date for the hearing is on August 10.
Yadav, who has also served as Union railway minister and continues to be among the most vocal critics of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre, had earlier been admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. The AIIMS authorities had, however, discharged him after treatment, maintaining that he was in better health though the RJD chief and his family members rubbished the claims and insisted that he needed further treatment and hospitalisation.
— With agency inputs, India Legal Bureau