Court allows release of Lalu’s passport for renewal in Ranchi

RANCHI: A special CBI court in Ranchi has allowed release of former Bihar chief minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s passport for renewal so that he can go abroad for treating an old kidney ailment.
Lalu’s advocate Prabhat Kumar said that the passport would be submitted to the authority concerned for renewal. Once renewed, it would be submitted before the court. “We will seek permission of the court so that the RJD leader can go abroad for kidney treatment as soon as we get appointment from the doctor,” he added.
Sources said the step was taken in order to avoid any delay after the appointment with the doctors is fixed.
Lalu’s passport was submitted before the court in 1996 when the various fodder scam cases against him were in the trial phase. Lalu had secured release of the passport while he went abroad as a Union railway minister. At present, Lalu is sentenced in five fodder scam cases. He has, however, secured bail in all of them from the Jharkhand high court.