Ranchi: Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav was on Friday granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court in the Chaibasa Treasury case, related to the fodder scam. However, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief won’t be allowed to walk out of jail just as yet since the Dumka treasury case is pending.
Bihar goes to polls in three phases, starting on October 28, but the 72-year-old Lalu has been barred from contesting the elections.
Lalu has been asked to submit two personal bonds of Rs 50,000 each and deposit a penalty of Rs 2 lakh to secure bail. The court has also sought his medical reports and details of his treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi, according to an Indian Express report.
In the case in question, Lalu was charged with fraudulence of Rs 33.67 crore from Chaibasa (now in Jharkhand) district treasury during 1992-93 when he was Chief Minister of undivided Bihar.
A special CBI court in Ranchi had, on January 24, 2018, convicted Lalu and former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra in the third case of multi-crore fodder scam related to the fraudulent withdrawal of money from Chaibasa treasury in 1990s. Lalu and Mishra were handed jail terms of five years each, besides being fined Rs 5 lakh each.
Lalu is currently serving time in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda jail. He was earlier granted bail in Deoghar treasury case.
