RANCHI: The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday admitted CBI’s plea seeking enhancement of RJD president Lalu Prasad’s sentence in the fodder scam case, in which he has already been convicted.
In its petition, the CBI has demanded maximum punishment of seven years imprisonment to Lalu. Accepting the petition, the court fixed date for the next hearing after three months.
The CBI has requested a harsher punishment for Lalu Prasad Yadav, along with co-convicts Beck Julius and Sudhir Kumar Bhattacharya. Earlier, the trial court had sentenced them to three-and-a-half years of rigorous imprisonment.
The CBI is pressing for the maximum possible sentence in the case, which pertains to the illegal withdrawal of Rs 89 lakh from the Deoghar treasury.
The petition seeks an increase in the sentence for six individuals convicted in connection with the case, out of which, three have since passed away. After hearing the arguments, a division bench of Justices Rongon Mukhopadhyay and Ambuj Nath agreed to admit the petition.
On 6 January 2018, CBI Special Judge Shivpal Singh had awarded three-and-a-half years of rigorous imprisonment each to Lalu Prasad, Beck Julius, RK Rana, Phoolchand Singh, Mahesh Prasad, and Subir Bhattacharya under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code. In contrast, Jagdish
Sharma, then Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in undivided Bihar, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years’ imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 10 lakh.
Lalu Prasad Yadav is currently out on bail. He was previously lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi in connection with the case, but was later shifted to Rajendra Insitute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) due to health issues. He was eventually moved to AIIMS in Delhi.
Following the failure of both his kidneys, the RJD travelled to Singapore, where his daughter Rohini Acharya donated one of her kidneys to him. Lalu has since returned to Patna and is convalescing.