The Jharkhand High Court on Friday differed the hearing on the bail plea of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav till April 1 in connection with a fodder scam case.
Earlier in February, a CBI court sentenced Yadav to five years imprisonment in the fifth fodder scam case and imposed a fine of ₹60 lakh on him.
Yadav was declared guilty on February 15. Of the 99 accused in the case, 24 were acquitted, while three-year jail terms were pronounced for the 46 accused.
Yadav has been found guilty of illegal withdrawals of ₹139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury by a special CBI court in Jharkhand's Ranchi.
Earlier, the former chief minister had been sentenced in four fodder scam cases. This case (RC 47A/97) was the fifth and the biggest in which ₹139.35 crore was illegally withdrawn.
The ₹950-crore fodder scam relates to the fraudulent withdrawal of public funds from government treasuries in various districts of undivided Bihar.
The scam came into light after a raid conducted by Deputy Commissioner of Chaibasa Amit Khare at the Animal Husbandry Department in January 1996.
{{/usCountry}}The scam came into light after a raid conducted by Deputy Commissioner of Chaibasa Amit Khare at the Animal Husbandry Department in January 1996.
{{/usCountry}}The CBI was roped in by the Patna High Court in March 1996 after increasing pressure to investigate the case. The CBI registered an FIR in the case at a time when Bihar was still undivided.
In June 1997, Yadav was named an accused in the case for the first time in the charge sheet filed by the CBI.