The Jharkhand High Court on Saturday granted bail to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Dumka Treasury case related to the fodder scam. His party tweeted the update on Saturday afternoon.
The High Court’s decision means that Yadav will now be out of jail as he had already been granted bail in other fodder scam cases, including the Chaibasa Treasury case and the Deoghar Treasury case. Currently, the former Bihar chief minister is in Delhi’s AIIMS for treatment.
The court has directed Yadav to furnish a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh, according to Hindi daily Hindustan. As per bail conditions, the senior RJD leader will have to submit his passport to the court and is not allowed to change his mobile number and residential address.
Yadav has been in jail since December 2017 after being convicted in multiple cases related to the fodder scam that was exposed in 1996, involving the embezzlement of around Rs 1,000 crore from the state exchequer for the purchase of fictitious medicines and fodder for cattle. He was the chief minister of the state at the time. The case for which he filed the bail plea involves the embezzlement of Rs 3.5 crore from the Dumka Treasury by Bihar’s Animal Husbandry Department officials between 1991 and 1996 during Yadav’s tenure.
In February, the Jharkhand High Court had rejected an earlier bail plea filed by Yadav in the Dumka Treasury case.
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