The Jharkhand High Court on Friday granted bail to RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Doranda Treasury Case in which a CBI special court had sentenced him to five years in prison.
Lalu Yadav was found guilty in the Rs 139.5 crore Doranda treasury embezzlement case, the fifth and final case against him, in the fodder scam. The former Bihar chief minister was among the remaining convicts whose quantum of sentence was pronounced in February. Of the 99 accused, 24 were acquitted in the last fodder scam case, while a three-year jail term was awarded to 46 others.
The veteran leader had earlier been sentenced to 14 years in jail in four other fodder scam cases. The final case was related to withdrawals of Rs 139.35 crore from Doranda treasury during his tenure as the chief minister of undivided Bihar. He was out on bail when he was convicted again.
In the course of the 22-year-long trial, 55 accused died, while eight turned government approvers. As many as six accused are still absconding.
The fodder scam, pegged at Rs 950 crore, was first unearthed by the then Chaibasa deputy commissioner, Amit Khare.
The Animal Husbandry Department had allegedly issued fake bills for large disbursements from government treasuries in various districts of undivided Bihar. Lalu Yadav, then the chief minister, also held the finance portfolio.
The RJD supremo, who has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and slapped with a total fine of Rs 60 lakh, is on bail in four other cases related to Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries after conviction. The CBI named Lalu as an accused in June 1997. The agency framed charges against Lalu and former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra, who died in 2019.
In February, the 73-year-old leader’s lawyer has said that they will approach the High Court, citing that he had almost completed half of his sentence.
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