Lalu's wait to walk out of jail prolongs as court rejects his bail application in Dumka case

The Jharkhand High Court on Fridayrejected Lalu Prasad's bail application in a fodder scam case,dashing the RJD president's chance of immediate releasefrom jail.

Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh turned down Prasad's bailrequest in the Dumka treasury case, an offshoot of the multi-crore rupees fodder scam.

The court said since the RJD supremo has to serve twomore months in jail to complete half of the tenure of histotal sentence in the case, the bail plea is not granted andasked us to file a fresh application after two months,Prasad'slawyer Prabhat Kumar said.

Prasad has already acquired bail in three out of the fourcases of the fodder scam in which he has been convicted andacceptance of his request in the case related to illegalwithdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury could havehelped him come out of the jail.

The court was also slated to hear another matter relatingto violation of jail manuals by Prasad, but it could not do sobecause of paucity of time and posted it for next hearing onFebruary 26.

On direction of the court, the Ranchi based RIMs hassubmitted reply on health of imprisoned RJD leader and alsosending him to AIIMS Delhi.

The RJD chief was airlifted to AIIMS Delhi on January 23last.

The hearing into the RJD chief's bail application wentfor 2.5 hours.

Prasad's lawyer Kapil Sibal, who participated in thehearing virtually from Delhi, argued that his client has spent42 months while CBI contented that he has completed 37 monthsand 19 days and hence bail should not be provided. The court after perusing papers related to the claims ofboth the sides concluded that Prasad has spent 40 months ofsentence in the case.

The court asked him to file a fresh application after twomonths.

A special CBI court in Ranchi had in March 2018 sentPrasad to 14 years in jail and fined Rs 60 lakh in the fourthfodder scam case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of moneyfrom Dumka treasury in the early 1990s.

CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh had awarded two separate sentencesof seven years each to Prasad under the Indian Penal Code(IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Acts.

Both the sentences will have to be served consecutively.

In the first fodder scam case, dating back to 2013, theRJD supremo was convicted for illegal withdrawal of Rs 37.7crore from the Chaibasa treasury.

He got five years' prison term in the case following whichhe was disqualified from the Lok Sabha.

In Patna, Prasad's family members as well as partyleaders were glued to their TV screens waiting for the goodnews from Ranchi. But, their hope did not come true.

RJD spokesman Shakti Singh Yadav said outside RabriDevi's residence in Patna that they were hopeful of an ailingLalu ji getting bail and coming back home.

''We have high regards for the judiciary and accept thecourt's verdict,'' he said.