Lalu Prasad conducting political activities from hospital, CBI tells top court, opposes bail plea

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday opposed the bail plea of jailed RJD leader Lalu Prasad, saying that the leader conducted political activities from the hospital and given the election season, he should not get bail. In its affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the central probe agency said that the RJD leader, convicted in fodder scam cases, was seeking the bail to indulge in political activities ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

The agency claimed that Lalu was not sentenced to 3.5 years but 27.5 years in jail and the leader was not serving his jail term, instead was staying in a special ward of a hospital and conducting political activities from there.

The RJD leader, the CBI said, was misleading the Supreme Court by seeking the bail on medical ground, while his sole purpose was the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Earlier, on Friday, the Supreme Court had said that it will hear the RJD leader's bail plea on April 10 and asked the CBI to file its response by April 9.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the RJD chief, sought urgent listing of the bail plea saying notice has been issued in the matter. "You (CBI) file the reply by April 9. We will take up the matter (Yadav’s bail plea) on April 10," the bench had said.

Prasad is currently lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in the Jharkhand capital of Ranchi. He has challenged the January 10 verdict of the Jharkhand High Court dismissing his bail plea.

The three cases in which Prasad has been convicted are related to the over-Rs 900-crore fodder scam, which pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the treasuries in the Animal Husbandry department in the early 1990s, when Jharkhand was part of Bihar.