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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated that it would be very difficult to cancel the bail granted to RJD chief Lalu Prasad by the Jharkhand High Court in one of the fodder scam cases, saying that the politician has been out for the last four years.
A bench of Justices A S Bopanna and M M Sundresh pointed out that the bail was granted in 2019 when Additional Solicitor General S V Raju submitted that the high court erred in granting the relief and there is a very short question of law to be adjudicated by the court.
“Even if we answer in your favour, it will be very difficult to put him back,” the bench said.
Raju submitted that the HC had committed an error by considering that the sentences imposed on Lalu in various fodder scam cases were to run concurrently and not consecutively. “These orders are bad in toto. Bail has been granted on an erroneous assumption considering that sentences are concurrent and not consecutive,” the ASG submitted.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the politician, told the bench that the appeal in the case was also filed after a delay of 14-15 months by CBI and pleaded the bench that it should be disposed of by keeping the question of law open for adjudication in some other case in future.
Taking a potshot at the agency, Sibal said its main intention is to keep his client inside jail till the 2024 election.
The bench, after a brief hearing, posted the case to January. The probe agency has challenged the July 12, 2019 order passed by the high court saying it had erroneously suspended the sentence awarded by the trial court and released the RJD chief on bail in one of the fodder-scam cases.
The high court had also granted Yadav bail in the case of fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar treasury on the ground that he had served half of his prison term of three-and-a-half years.
The Supreme Court had agreed to hear CBI’s appeal and issued notice to Lalu Prasad in February 2000.
A bench of Justices A S Bopanna and M M Sundresh pointed out that the bail was granted in 2019 when Additional Solicitor General S V Raju submitted that the high court erred in granting the relief and there is a very short question of law to be adjudicated by the court.
“Even if we answer in your favour, it will be very difficult to put him back,” the bench said.
Raju submitted that the HC had committed an error by considering that the sentences imposed on Lalu in various fodder scam cases were to run concurrently and not consecutively. “These orders are bad in toto. Bail has been granted on an erroneous assumption considering that sentences are concurrent and not consecutive,” the ASG submitted.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the politician, told the bench that the appeal in the case was also filed after a delay of 14-15 months by CBI and pleaded the bench that it should be disposed of by keeping the question of law open for adjudication in some other case in future.
Taking a potshot at the agency, Sibal said its main intention is to keep his client inside jail till the 2024 election.
The bench, after a brief hearing, posted the case to January. The probe agency has challenged the July 12, 2019 order passed by the high court saying it had erroneously suspended the sentence awarded by the trial court and released the RJD chief on bail in one of the fodder-scam cases.
The high court had also granted Yadav bail in the case of fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar treasury on the ground that he had served half of his prison term of three-and-a-half years.
The Supreme Court had agreed to hear CBI’s appeal and issued notice to Lalu Prasad in February 2000.
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