Lalu Prasad Yadav granted bail in Fodder scam case
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav has been granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court in a case linked to the Fodder scam, reports said. The party also confirmed the news in a statement on Twitter. Yadav had been convicted in four out of five cases related to the multi-crore scam. Here are more details on this.
Case pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs. 3.5 crore
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 was the Chief Minister of Bihar. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison on March 24, 2018 in the case. Earlier this year, Yadav was denied bail by the High Court.
He is expected to walk out of prison soon
On February 19 this year, the Jharkhand High Court had rejected Yadav's bail plea as he fell short by one month and 17 days to complete half of his prison term at that time. After completing that period, he again applied for bail from the court. He is now expected to walk out of prison soon.
Yadav is currently admitted to AIIMS, Delhi
Yadav has been in prison since December 2017 and was sentenced to seven years in 2018 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and seven years under the Prevention of Corruption Act in relation to the Fodder scam. On January 23, he was shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi for medical treatment after his health condition deteriorated.
RJD being led by Yadav's son Tejashwi Yadav
In Yadav's absence, his son Tejashwi Yadav has been leading the RJD and was praised for the party's impressive performance in the Bihar Assembly elections last year. In fact, the RJD emerged as the single-largest party. However, the Opposition alliance fell short of the majority mark, after which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed the government.
