SC denies bail to Lalu Prasad in fodder scam case

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused bail to former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad in the multi-crore fodderscam case.

Kapil Sibal appearing for Lalu Prasad cited judgement of the Supreme Court where the court had in similar case granted bail to a petitioner. Sibal said Lalu Prasad has already served 22 months in the cases.

CJI replied that he has to serve the sentence in each case.

“There is no demand and recovery and this is a case of conspiracy,” Sibal said.

To which, the Chief Justice said: “I’don’t think we can grant you bail,” and dismissed the Special Leave Petition The fodder scam, exposed in 1996, involved the embezzlement of around Rs 1,000 crore from the state exchequer for the purchase of fictitious medicines and fodder for catle in the early 1990s.

The RJD chief has been lodged in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Jail since a Central Bureau of Investigation court convicted him in three cases related to the scam. He already faces more than 13 years in jail.

India has been under an undeclared Emergency and it is different from the one imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975 as she never called the then opposition leaders “anti-national” or “unpatriotic” and did not kill minorities, Dalits and even journalists, says Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad in his memoir.

Inhisautobiographytitled“gopalganjtoraisina: My Political Journey”, which went on sale on Sunday, he narrates how the very idea of India enshrined in the Constitution is threatened under the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule.

“Gopalganj to Raisina”, Lalu Prasad’s autobiography jointly authored by veteran journalist Nalin Verma and published by RUPA is out now.

“Though there is no official censorship, several media houses, owned by major corporates, hesitate to air opinions or shows that are unpalatable to the Modi government,” he has writen.

He also highlights the incident of four seniormost Supreme Court judges holding a press conference saying the democracy is in danger.