New Delhi (ILNS): RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s stay in jail has been further extended, despite his bail being overdue. Today his bail application in the Jharkhand High Court in a case related to illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka Treasury has been deferred till December 11
Lalu has been undergoing treatment in custody at Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for over two years. This fact has been taken as a sole ground for bail in the application that he had completed half of the seven-year sentence handed out to him in this case and in respect of his health condition it is pertinent to grant him bail.
“We’ve been instructed to bring records related to Lalu Prasad Ji’s half-sentence from the lower court and get it verified before further arguments,” said Prabhat Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s lawyer.
The CBI, on the other hand, opposed the bail application, saying that he has not served a single day’s sentence in connection with the case related to Dumka treasury. Agency, in its reply, said that Lalu has so far been convicted by a CBI court in four different cases of fodder scam and in the Dumka case he has been sentenced to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment.
On November 9 the bench of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh had sought the CBI’s reply on the bail application.
Lalu has been languishing in jail since December 23, 2017, after his conviction in fodder scam cases. He has already secured bail in three cases and moved for the final one which relates to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from Dumka treasury between December 1995 and January 1996.
In this case, the Trial Court had sentenced Yadav to 14 years of imprisonment, which included seven years under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and another seven under Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act. Both the sentences had to run consecutively.