Lalu Prasad Yadav’s health worsens, being shifted to AIIMS Delhi from Ranchi

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav is being taken to the AIIMS Delhi from Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) here on Tuesday after his health condition worsened.

“It was found that he has issues in his heart and kidney. He is being sent to AIIMS Delhi for better treatment. The jail officials will decide (the date),” said Kameshwar Prasad, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Director.

The Jharkhand High Court on March 11 differed the hearing on the bail plea of Yadav till April 1 in connection with a fodder scam case.

Earlier in February, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court had sentenced Yadav to five years imprisonment in the fifth fodder scam case and imposed a fine of Rs 60 lakh on him.

Yadav was declared guilty in the fodder scam case on February 15. He was found guilty of illegal withdrawals of Rs 139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury by a special CBI court in Jharkhand’s Ranchi.

The Rs 950-crore fodder scam (the total scam of five fodder scams, Lalu has been proven guilty of) relates to the fraudulent withdrawal of public funds from government treasuries in various districts of undivided Bihar.

The scam came into light after a raid conducted by Deputy Commissioner of Chaibasa Amit Khare at the Animal Husbandry Department in January 1996.

The CBI was roped in by the Patna High Court in March 1996 after increasing pressure to investigate the case. The CBI registered an FIR in the case at a time when Bihar was still undivided.

In June 1997, Yadav was named an accused in the case for the first time in the charge sheet filed by the CBI.