The comment was made by a bench of justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh while hearing the CBI's appeal against the bail...
Digital Desk: While the Supreme Court postponed the hearing on a petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the bail granted to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam case on Tuesday, it was noted that it would be tough to put Lalu Prasad Yadav back in jail. Now, reportedly the hearing will take place in January.
The statement was made by a bench of justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh while hearing the CBI's appeal against the bail granted to the 74-year-old former Union minister and ex-Bihar chief minister by the Jharkhand high court in April last year.
"Even if we rule in your favour, it will be difficult to re-arrest him," the bench observed, noting that the veteran lawmaker had been released on bail in other fodder fraud cases, some of which were passed four years ago.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju, representing the top investigating agency, informed the Court that the problem involved determining a brief matter of law related to the trial court's interpretation of a sentence.
According to the CBI, the high court granted bail based on an "erroneous assumption" that the terms handed in each of the many fodder scam cases would run "concurrently" rather than "consecutively."
In its appeal, the CBI argued to the Supreme Court that the high court erred in deciding that Lalu had served half of his sentence. According to the CBI, Lalu's sentence was to be served consecutively, one after the other, for a total of 14 years. Lalu had only been imprisoned for around a year before bail was granted, according to the CBI appeal.
The RJD supremo was defended in Court by prominent lawyer Kapil Sibal, who questioned the investigative agency's eagerness to seek a hearing in an appeal filed nearly 14 months later. "The only purpose they have is to keep him inside (jail) so that he is not out during the 2024 general elections."
Sibal stated that his client was discharged by the HC due to his medical condition and senior age. He just had a kidney transplant and had previously received a 42-month term in the fodder instances.
Because the case was hotly argued on both sides, the bench agreed to schedule a hearing in the last week of January 2024.
When the case was last heard in August, the CBI noted that the accused was observed playing badminton while on medical bail. Along with the agency's suit, the Jharkhand government has filed separate petitions in the Supreme Court contesting earlier orders of bail granted to the RJD president.
The 950 crore fodder scandal featured massive disbursements from state treasuries based on forged bills during Lalu's tenure as chief minister and state finance minister in 1997. During the relevant period, he was convicted in five cases involving fraudulent withdrawals of money from state treasuries in Deoghar, Dumka, Chaibasa, and Doranda.
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