Supreme Court grants early hearing to Lalu Prasad Yadav on his bail plea

The Supreme Court has granted an early hearing to Lalu Prasad Yadav to hear his bail plea in connection to all the three cases related to the multi-crore fodder scam. The apex court has agreed to hear the plea on April 10.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo, sought urgent listing of the bail plea saying a notice has been issued in the matter. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Friday said the agency needs to file reply in the matter.

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A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the CBI to file reply by April 9 and said Yadav's bail plea will be taken up for hearing next Wednesday."You (CBI) file the reply by April 9. We will take up the matter (Yadav's bail plea) on April 10, the bench said.

Yadav was sent to the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, Jharkhand. Currently, he is lodged at the RIMS hospital in Ranchi on account of multiple ailments.

The over Rs 900 crore fodder scam relates to fraudulent withdrawal of money from treasuries in the Animal Husbandry department in early 1990s when Bihar and Jharkhand were one state and the RJD was in power with Yadav the chief minister.

READ | Bihar CM Nitish Kumar accused Lalu Prasad for using telephone from within the prison, Tej Pratap backs his father 

On Tuesday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar his arch-rival Lalu Prasad Yadav of being in touch with his fellow associates through the telephone in contravention of the rules applicable to those serving a prison sentence. Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap, however, denied the accusation made by Nitish Kumar saying that he himself has not spoken to his father for over a month.

In an interview, Nitish Kumar said that 'Lalu keeps telephoning people, rules may be damned, and that this a well-known fact to everyone'. People meet Prasad on Saturdays, as per the jail manual, and Nitish Kumar is making a baseless allegation out of fear that he may be beaten during the Lok Sabha polls.