Supreme Court upholds bail to Lalu Prasad Yadav in Deoghar fodder scam

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the Jharkhand High Court order granting bail to former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the case.

A Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Justice PB Varale said that it is not inclined to interfere with the High Court but directed the High Court to speed up the hearing in the main appeals filed by Yadav and CBI against the trial court judgment (Yadav's appeal against conviction and CBI's appeal to enhance the sentence).

"We are not inclined to interfere in the impugned order (granting bail). The appeal is of the year 2018. It will only be appropriate to request the High Court to expedite the hearing of the appeal, preferably within 6 months. Disposed of. The legal issue is kept open," the Court said.

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 remained pending before the top court since then.

In its appeal before the Supreme Court, CBI argued that the High Court erroneously suspended the sentence against Prasad without any substantial change in circumstances.

The CBI also stated that Prasad was the kingpin, the main conspirator and benefactor behind the fodder scam. The CBI 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.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for CBI, contended that on two occasions, the plea for suspension of sentence was rejected on merits.

"The issue now is subsequently the High Court grants bail on the ground that he has completed 50% of the sentence which is factually incorrect. Without considering the fact it’s not a concurrent sentence, it suspends the sentence and grants him bail. This can’t be done. The yardstick applied is wrong. He has delayed the trial," Raju said.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, rebutted the ASG's argument.

"This whole argument that he should have undergone the first sentence then the second sentence is completely wrong. The judge has applied a uniform yardstick. It’s the discretion of the judge," Sibal said.

After hearing the parties, the Court refused to interfere with the bail order.

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