Jharkhand HC rejects Lalu’s bail extension plea, asks him to surrender by August 30

The Jharkhand high court on Friday rejected ailing Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad’s plea for extension of provisional bail period for another three months and asked him to surrender by August 30.

Moving the court for a third extension of provisional bail for continuing treatment at a super-specialty hospital in Mumbai, Prasad, who had undergone surgery for anal fistula, said that his health condition has not improved as the infection continues.

Rejecting his plea for further extension of bail, a bench of justice Aparesh Kumar Singh observed that Prasad’s current health condition was not life-threatening. “The treatment for post-fistula surgery could be availed here at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), “ the bench said, asking him to surrender by August 30.

Prasad’s advocate Prabhat Kumar had told that court that the former Bihar chief minister is currently undergoing treatment at Asean Heart Institute in Mumbai as the infection still persisted after the surgery, while doctors advised him three more surgeries - for prostrate, removal of stone from kidney and cataract.

He said that the court asked Prasad to get the present treatment at RIMS and he can make a fresh application for provisional bail for the aforesaid three surgeries, when the time comes.

Prasad, who was lodged at the Birsa Munda Central Jail on December 23 last year after his conviction in one of the fodder scam cases, has after two months in jail, had developed health complications and undergone treatment at the RIMS at Ranchi and the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, for nearly two months

He was granted provisional bail for six weeks by the high court on May 11 on health grounds. The court had subsequently twice extended the bail period, which finally ended on August 20.