Jharkhand High Court rejects Lalu Prasad Yadav's bail plea in fodder scam

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], February 19 : The Jharkhand High Court on Friday rejected Lalu Prasad Yadav's bail plea in the Dumka treasury case asking the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief to file a fresh petition after two months.
Yadav, who has been in prison since December 2017, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in 2018 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and seven years under the Prevention of Corruption Act in connection with the fodder scam case.
Lalu's lawyer sought bail on the ground that Yadav had completed of half sentence but the court said the calculation was short by two months and rejected the petition. It asked him to file a fresh petition after two months.
"We had presented a chart and supporting order sheet regarding compilation of half of the sentence. The court has calculated and found it short by two months," Prabhat Kumar, Lalu's lawyer said.
The case pertains to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.5 crore from the Dumka treasury by Animal Husbandry Department officials between 1991 and 1996 when Yadav served as the State's Chief Minister.
On February 12, the court granted one week more time to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file an order sheet against the former Bihar chief minister and deferred to February 19 the hearing on Yadav's bail plea in connection with the fodder scam case.
Meanwhile the RJD supremo's elder son and party MLA, Tej Pratap Yadav has sent 50,000 postcard letters to President Ram Nath Kovind last week requesting him to release the former Bihar chief minister from jail on humanitarian grounds.
Lalu Yadav is presently in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi where he was shifted to from the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi on the advice of the State Medical Board.
Dr Umesh Prasad, physician for Lalu Yadav had said last month that his kidney was functioning at 25 per cent capacity and his situation could take a turn for the worse.