RANCHI: RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav will have to spend 'Holi' in custody as the Jharkhand High Court on Friday adjourned his petition for suspension of sentence in a fodder scam case to April 1.
The HC called for the lower court records in the case on fraudulent withdrawals from Doranda treasury in the fodder scam involving Prasad, a former union minister and former Bihar chief minister.
Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh adjourned the hearing in the petition to April 1.
Prasad's petition seeking bail in the case will now be heard after receipt of the lower court records from the special CBI court, which had convicted Prasad and sentenced him to five years in custody and slapped a fine of Rs 60 lakh on him on February 15.
The scam related to withdrawal of Rs 139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury in 1995-96 when he was the chief minister of the erstwhile undivided Bihar.
He was sentenced on February 21.
The RJD leader, who was on bail, had surrendered before the CBI court and is in custody since February 15.
He had moved Jharkhand High Court on February 24 challenging his conviction and sentence by the court here.
He is now in Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences here for the monitoring of his medical condition.
The fodder scam is pegged at Rs 950 crore.
The money was withdrawn from various treasuries through fake challans and bills by the animal husbandary department.
Prasad, who was the chief minister at the time, also held the portfolio of the finance department and had allegedly received huge kickbacks.