Supreme Court Declines To Stay Lalu Yadav’s Bail In Fodder Scam Case, Asks HC To Expedite Hearing

New Delhi, July 14: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with the Jharkhand High Court’s order granting bail to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in a fodder scam case. A bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.B. Varale directed the High Court to expedite the hearing of pending appeals in the matter and decide them preferably within six months. The apex court was hearing a plea filed by the CBI challenging the High Court’s July 2019 order, which had suspended Yadav’s sentence and granted him bail. The CBI had argued that the High Court had wrongly suspended the sentence awarded by the trial court and released the RJD leader on bail in one of the fodder scam cases. Lalu Prasad Yadav, a former Bihar Chief Minister, was convicted in the Deoghar treasury case involving the alleged fraudulent withdrawal of around Rs 89 lakh. A special CBI court had sentenced him to three-and-a-half years of imprisonment, following which the Jharkhand High Court suspended his sentence and granted bail after noting that he had already served more than half of his jail term.