CBI’s new salvo to oppose Lalu Prasad Yadav’s bail may spell trouble for others


For the first time in more than two decades of forage scam cases, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) turned to a new statutory provision to oppose RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s release on bail, even when it may bring problems to several other convicts.

According to the CBI, the court had never ordered that the sentences awarded to Prasad in four separate fodder scam cases be executed at the same time. Therefore, Section 427 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) would apply and custody of Prasad in subsequent cases would begin only after the sentence was completed in previous cases, the agency said.

Article 427 (1) of the CrPC states: “When a person who is already subject to a prison sentence is sentenced to a subsequent prison sentence … said prison sentence … will begin when the prison sentence expires at the one that has been previously sentenced unless the Court orders that the subsequent sentence shall be executed simultaneously with the previous sentence … “

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The former Prime Minister of Bihar, Prasad, had suffered a major shock in the forage scam case on September 30, 2013, when a trial court in Ranchi found him guilty in the first of six cases against him. The sentence imposed five years in prison, the disqualification of Parliament and the prohibition to participate in elections. The Supreme Court granted him bail in December of that year.

His problem was renewed again after December 23, 2017, when he was convicted and sentenced to 3.5 years, 5 years and 14 years in prison in three other fodder scam cases in quick succession. Since then, he has been in jail.

Of these three cases, he had obtained bail in one of them last year from the Jharkhand High Court on the grounds that he had served half of the 3.5 years in prison that he was granted.

“The IWC has already challenged the previous HC order in the Supreme Court and it is pending there,” said IWC Assistant Attorney General and Attorney Rajiv Sinha.

In July this year, Prasad filed a request for bail in the higher court in the second case on similar grounds that he had completed half of the 5 years in prison. But, the CBI, for the first time, resorted to the aforementioned Section 427 (1) of the CrPC to challenge its bail statement claiming that the custody of Prasad, in this case, had not yet begun as it had not completed custody. total of cases.

Prasad’s lawyer, Prabhat Kumar, said: “The court, at the last hearing on September 11, had not appreciated CBI’s argument saying that it was a premature stage to raise such a dispute. The court said the matter would be decided at the final hearing of the pending appeals. “He added that Prasad’s bail request will be heard on October 9.

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Kumar explained that the forage scam cases involve nearly 200 defendants and most of them had been convicted in more than one case. “Some of the accused providers were convicted in more than 25 cases and received different prison terms. If the total sentence of an individual is taken into account, it can be more than 100 years, “he said.

Lawyer Indrajeet Sinha, practicing at the Jharkhand High Court, said: “The appellate court has the power to order that sentences in different cases be executed at the same time. I think this is a weak argument adopted by the IWC on surety. “

He added: “The appeal of the forage scam convicts is still pending in the superior court. If the court is governed by the mandate of Section 427 of the CrPC on bail, the defendant, convicted in four or five cases, would have to serve half of the total sentences (27.5 years in the case of Lalu Prasad ) for your release on bond. But it would be an injustice to him for having spent so long in jail if the court later acquits him after deciding the pending appeal.

Prasad’s current bond statement is related to the case of the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 33.13 crore during 1992-93 from the Chaibasa treasury for fictitious expenses on fodder and other expenses for livestock. He, along with 49 other people, was convicted in this case. Prasad was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of one million rupees.

After spending the initial two months from December 2017 to February 2018 in the Birsa Munda central prison in Ranchi, Prasad had developed health complications in March 2018 and was transferred to a hospital. Since then, he has never returned to jail.

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