Jharkhand HC admits petition by CBI against Lalu Prasad

The Jharkhand High Court Tuesday admitted a petition filed by CBI praying for enhancement of prison term of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad in connection with the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar treasury.

A special CBI court had sentenced Prasad to three and half years in prison after convicting him in the case and handed seven years jail term to former MP Jagdish Sharma.

Some other politicians, former government officials and suppliers had also been sentenced in the case along with them and were awarded varying prison terms.

The CBI moved the HC praying that Prasad should also get seven years' prison term as the case was the same.

A division bench of Justices A K Gupta and Rajesh Kumar allowed the petition to be admitted for hearing.

Prasads counsel opposed it on the ground that such petitions should have been moved within three months of sentence but in the Deoghar treasury case the CBI has taken 201 days to file the petition and that it should not be heard.

The Deoghar treasury scam took place in the early 1990s.

Prasad has been convicted in four fodder scam cases in Ranchi and is facing trial in a fifth fodder scam case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of money from Doranda treasury.

He has been in jail from December 2017 and is now under treatment for multiple ailments at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi.