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Synopsis

The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned hearing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenge to bail granted to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam case, to October.

"We will have it in October after the G20 summit, on a non-miscellaneous day..", ordered a bench of Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh.

At the outset, Court expressed it surprise on the case being added to the cause list late night. "It was not listed till last night..but because CBI had requested...it was listed..I had requested the CJI last week..", ASG SV Raju responded to the bench's query.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Lalu Prasad told the court that his client was 78 years old and had just undergone a kidney transplant.

"He is playing badminton.. there is a very neat question of law involved..", said the ASG.

On the bench's question about the question of law, ASG submitted bail was granted to Yadav on an erroneous assumption that his sentences were concurrent and not consecutive.

A few days back, Lalu Prasad filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court, opposing the plea by CBI seeking cancellation of his bail saying it was "erroneous, misconceived, meritless" and "untenable" to the settled position of law.

The RJD chief said that the CBI's plea against the Jharkhand High Court's order, ignored the settled position of law, which required "overwhelming circumstances are necessary to reverse an order granting bail". He also stated he had been in custody for a period of 30 months.

Prasad also said he is senior citizen, over 75 years of age, and suffered various age-related ailments along with co morbidities, and has also undergone serious surgical/ medical interventions since his release. He has had to undergo a very serious surgery, namely a kidney transplant on December 5, 2022. 

Last Friday, CBI had approached the Supreme Court of India seeking urgent hearing of their plea challenging bail granted to the RJD leader.

In March this year, Supreme Court had tagged the plea filed by CBI challenging the grant of bail to Yadav in the 'Doranda Treasury case' of Jharkhand— the fifth case related to the fodder scam, along with other pending petitions.

A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi had said, "We are not issuing notice, but tagging the matter with the pending similar appeals filed by the CBI".

 

CBI has challenged the Jharkhand High Court’s order of April 22, 2022, granting Yadav bail in the case. Yadav has been convicted in several cases involving the fodder scam but is currently out on bail due to his poor health. In the present 'Doranda Treasury case' he has been sentenced to five years in prison.

In February 2022, a Special CBI Court in Ranchi sentenced the former Chief Minister of Bihar to five years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs. 60 lakh in connection with the fifth fodder scam case, which involves embezzlement of more than Rs 139 crore by Doranda Treasury.