SC issues notice to CBI on Lalu Prasad's bail plea

The Supreme Court Friday issued notice to the CBI on the bail petition of Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad, convicted in a fodder scam case and jailed for five years.

A bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued notice after senior counsel Ram Jethmalani told the court that 44 people were convicted in the case, of whom 37 have already been granted bail and bail applications of six others are under consideration.

Jethmalani told the court that except for Lalu Prasad, no other convict has been refused bail. He said that another convict who too has been awarded five years imprisonment has been released on bail.

As he urged the court to grant bail, Chief Justice Sathasivam wanted to know how much sentence the former Bihar chief minister and railway minister had already undergone. He was told that in the first instance, he was in incarceration for ten months and now for two months since his conviction.

That makes it one year, Chief Justice Sathasivam observed as he inquired what was the position of the Jharkhand High Court in respect of the years of the appeals being heard now. The court was told it was still hearing appeals of 1999-2000.

Upon this, the court said that the notice is returnable in two weeks and directed the listing of matter Dec 13.

Lalu Prasad's petition for grant of bail was mentioned before the apex court on Nov 25, and the court had directed its listing Friday.

The RJD chief has challenged the Jharkhand High Court's Oct 31 interim order rejecting his plea for bail during the pendency of his appeal against the trial court order sentencing him to undergo an imprisonment of five years and a two fines totaling to Rs. 25 lakhs.

Faulting the high court order, Lalu Prasad's petition said that R.K.Rana who too was convicted for the same offence as he was and awarded five years rigorous imprisonment was granted bail six days before his bail plea was rejected.

The petition said that in 2009, Rana was convicted in another case relating to animal husbandry department and was sentenced to undergo sentence of five years.

He further contended that another convict - the then animal husbandry minister - who was given three year sentence was granted bail by the trial court itself.

"The petitioner (Lalu Prasad) has been treated differently in the matter of grant of bail in as much as some of the co-accused, who are similarly situated, have been granted bail," the petition said.

He said that entire case of prosecution was based on circumstantial evidence and the evidence of two approvers that too was based on hearsay evidence which was inadmissible in the court.

He also sought to allay apprehension that he may disappear in the event of being granted bail, saying he had been a chief minister and the railway minister, is the leader of a political party "and until the date of his conviction in the present case, was a sitting member of parliament".

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ranchi Sep 30 convicted Lalu Prasad, another former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra, Janata Dal-United MP Jagdish Sharma and others in a fodder scam case, related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.37.70 crore from Chaibasa treasury during 1994-1995 when Lalu Prasad was the chief minister.