The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday admitted an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking enhancement of the sentence awarded to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Deoghar treasury case, a part of the infamous fodder scam.
Yadav was earlier convicted by a special CBI court in connection with the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89 lakh from the Deoghar treasury during his tenure as Bihar’s chief minister. The trial court had sentenced him to three-and-a-half years of imprisonment.
Challenging the trial court’s ruling, the CBI argued that Yadav, who was the then in-charge of the animal husbandry department, was fully aware of the large-scale defalcation from the treasury. The agency contended that the lower court’s sentence was lenient given the gravity of the offence, which is punishable by up to seven years of imprisonment under the Indian Penal Code.
The alleged irregularities occurred during the period when Jharkhand was still a part of undivided Bihar.
The High Court, while admitting the CBI’s plea, will now examine whether the sentence awarded by the trial court requires enhancement in view of the evidence and the statutory punishment limits.
