Ram Jethmalani gets bail for Lalu Prasad Yadav

The Supreme Court today granted bail to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav who had been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment by the CBI special court in the fodder scam case..The order was passed by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi..Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani represented Lalu Prasad Yadav in the case. In the previous hearing held on November 29, Jethmalani had submitted that out of the 44 people who were convicted in the case, 37 had been granted bail and the bail applications of 6 others were also under consideration. He had said that another convict, who had also been awarded five years imprisonment, had also been released on bail and only Lalu’s bail application had been refused. The Court had then issued notice to CBI and had posted the matter for today..Additional Solicitor General PP Malhotra appeared for the CBI..Relying on the fact that 37 other convicts had been granted bail and that Lalu had already served one year in jail out of five years, the Court granted him bail. The conditions of the bail would be decided by the trial court..Despite obtaining bail, Lalu’s disqualification from Parliament and from contesting elections would continue. The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed an appeal by Lalu Prasad seeking transfer of the fodder scam trial from the CBI Special Court to some other court of competent jurisdiction.