The Jharkhand high court on Friday reserved its order on RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s bail plea which he sought in three fodder scam cases on the grounds that his party required his presence for preparations in the run up to the 2019 general elections and others.

The bench of justice Aparesh Kumar Singh reserved the order after hearing the arguments of Prasad’s lawyer Kapil Sibal and CBI’s counsel Rajiv Sinha.

Sibal argued that Prasad had been first convicted in 2013 in fodder scam case RC 20 (A)/96 and sentenced to five years of imprisonment. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court after remaining in jail for almost 11 months in the said case.

The CBI had adopted same evidences, exhibits and witnesses produced in RC 20 (A)/96 case to prove Prasad’s complicity in other fodder scam cases. These evidences carried no value in other cases and should be rejected, the counsel argued.

Sibal also contended that Prasad had recently been convicted on March 19 in RC 38 (A)/96 case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.76 crore from Dumka treasury, but in the same case five accused politicians were acquitted including former animal husbandry department (AHD) minister Vidya Sagar Nishad. Sibal questioned how Prasad could be involved in conspiracy and corruption if other politicians were acquitted.

The Supreme Court’s senior lawyer further pointed out that Prasad, being his party’s national president, was required to make preparations for the 2019 general elections as the new Lok Sabha ought to be constituted by June this year.

Prasad, in his bail petition, had stated that being the RJD’s national president, he was the only authorised person to select candidates for different parliamentary constituencies. He stated that without his signature, the election commission would not allocate symbols to the candidates.

Sibal also pointed out Prasad’s poor health condition as one of the grounds for granting him bail. He said that the septuagenarian former Bihar chief minister was suffering from various diseases and had undergone multiple surgeries. He has become physically weak, Sibal told the court.

Opposing Prasad’s bail pleadings, assistant solicitor general and CBI’s counsel Rajiv Sinha argued that there was nothing new in Prasad’s bail petitions except for the ground taken by him for poll preparations.

He said that the high court’s same bench in March this year had considered all arguments, which Prasad has been raising now, and rejected his bail petition.

The RJD chief has been languishing in custody since December 23, 2017, after his conviction in three different fodder scam cases one after another.

He was first convicted on December 23, 2017, in connection with the fodder scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar treasury and got 3.5 years of jail term. His second conviction came on January 24 in a case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 33.13 crore from Chaibasa treasury. He was awarded 5 years of imprisonment in this case.

On March 19, Prasad was convicted in the third case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.76 crore from Dumka treasury and sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment.

Prasad is currently undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi.

First Published: Jan 04, 2019 17:29 IST