Not easy for Lalu Prasad Yadav to get bail now: Legal experts

Lalu was awarded five years' imprisonment and fined Rs 25 lakh in 2013 in the fodder scam CBI case number RC-20 which pertained to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.5 crore from the Chaibasa treasury. On Saturday, he was convicted in case number RC 64-(A) which relates to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar treasury. The quantum of punishment will be announced on January 3.

"Higher courts in the past were seen to be very conservative in granting bail to a habitual offender; that is, to the person who has been convicted for a second time," Patna high court's senior lawyer Y V Giri said and recalled Lalu was granted bail by the Supreme Court after his conviction in 2013.

Sources in the CBI which probed the case said Lalu was named in five cases lodged in Jharkhand and one lodged in Bihar. Of the five cases in Jharkhand, he has been convicted in two. The remaining three cases are in different stages of trial and so is the case registered in Bihar.

The cases under trial are RC-38 (A) for withdrawal of Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka treasury, RC-68 (A) for withdrawal of Rs 36 crore from the Chaibasa treasury, RC-47 (A) for withdrawal of Rs 184 crore from Doranda treasury and RC-63 for withdrawal of Rs 45 lakh from Bhagalpur treasury.