The Supreme Court on Tuesday remarked that the accused persons in the Deoghar fodder scam are over 60 years old.
A Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Justice N Kotiswar Singh made the remark while hearing the appeals filed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the Jharkhand High Court order granting bail to former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the case.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for CBI, told the Court that the law had been incorrectly applied to suspend the sentence of the accused.
"It’s a question of law. It has to be applied. It’s in violation of it that the sentence has been suspended. It can’t be done. It’s an illegal order," Raju said.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav said that there are more than one accused in the case and some of the accused are yet to file their replies to the CBI's appeal.
"There are other accused some of them haven’t been served, some of them haven’t filed replies. There is no need for such excitement," Sibal said.
"Both of us (judges) know what this special leave petition is. We think both of you know what the result is. You do your job, we do our job. We can fix a date for the appeal to be disposed of. We all know what the question of law is. The persons are in their 60s, 70s, and 80s," the Court said.
"They are all illegally out. This (bail) is post conviction," the ASG said.
The Court eventually proceeded to adjourn the case to be heard in April.
"The files are just languishing. We will give a date in April. Those cases in which the respondent has died, we will close them," the Court directed.
In December 2017, Lalu Prasad Yadav was sentenced to a total imprisonment of seven years after being convicted for offences under Section 120B read with Section 420,467,468,471,477(A) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13(i)(c)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
A special CBI court in Ranchi pronounced its verdict in the case and held Prasad guilty. The case involved the embezzlement of ₹89 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury between 1991 and 1994. Prasad was Chief Minister of Bihar when the scam took place.
Subsequently, in July 2019, the Jharkhand High Court granted bail to the former Bihar Chief Minister in one of the fodder scam cases he has been convicted in, while also suspending the sentence.
The CBI then approached the apex court which issued notice in the matter in February 2020.
The matter has been pending before the top court since then.
In its appeal before the Supreme Court, CBI has argued that the High Court erroneously suspended the sentence against Prasad, without any substantial change in circumstances.
The CBI has also stated that Prasad was the kingpin, the main conspirator and benefactor behind the fodder scam. The CBI has asserted that Yadav abused his official position and fraudulently misappropriated government money by withdrawing huge amounts in excess of actual allotments from District Treasury, Deoghar on the basis of forged allotment and sub-allotment letters.
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