RANCHI: Jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav will have to wait for one more week as the Jharkhand High Court, on the request of CBI, has granted one week time to the central agency to file its reply to the bail application filed by him.
Notably, Yadav has moved Jharkhand High Court challenging his conviction in the fodder scam. The scam relates to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 139.35 crore from Doranda Treasury, in which, he has been awarded 5-year jail and imposed fine of Rs 60 lakh by the special CBI Court in Ranchi.
Lalu Yadav along with 74 other accused persons were held guilty by the Special CBI Court in Ranchi on February 15.
The court has fixed the next hearing for April 22. “The Court of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh, on the request sought by CBI, has granted one week’s time to reply in the bail application of Lalu Yadav,” said Lalu Yadav’s Advocate Prabhat Kumar. Though the case will be heard next on April 22 CBI has to file a reply within a week, he added.
“Since April 15 is a holiday on the occasion of Good Friday, the case will be heard next on April 22," said Kumar.
According to Kumar, a criminal appeal, along with a bail application, has been filed in the Jharkhand High Court challenging the conviction of RJD chief Lalu Yadav in the Doranda Treasury case.
Incidentally, the RJD Chief was granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court in fodder scam case RC38A/96, related to the illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from Dumka Treasury, on April 17, 2021, and was released from jail on April 30, but sent to the jail again after his conviction in RC47A/96 on February 15, 2022.
Besides RC47A/96 related to Doranda Treasury, Yadav has also been convicted in four other multi-crore fodder scam cases related to Chaibasa Treasury (RC20A/96) on September 30, 2013, another case related to Chaibasa Treasury (RC68A/96) on January 24, 2018, Deoghar Treasury (RC 64A/96) on February 23, 2018 and Dumka Treasury (RC38A/96) on February 19, 2021. He, however, secured bail in all four cases.