The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the Central Bureau of Investigation’s appeal against the Jharkhand High Court’s 2019 order granting bail to former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Deoghar fodder scam case, reported Bar and Bench.

The case pertains to the alleged embezzlement of Rs 89 lakh from the Deoghar treasury between 1991 and 1994, when Yadav was the chief minister of Bihar. He was convicted in the case in 2017.

In 2019, the High Court granted Yadav bail and suspended his sentence. The CBI challenged the order in the Supreme Court, which issued notice in the matter in February 2020. The case has been pending since then.

On Tuesday, the CBI argued before the Supreme Court that the High Court had granted suspension of sentence on an erroneous premise that Yadav had completed half his sentence, Live Law reported.

It contended that Yadav was convicted in multiple fodder scam cases arising out of separate trials. The agency argued that, unless directed otherwise by a court, sentences awarded in subsequent convictions begin only after the earlier sentence has been served.

The High Court incorrectly treated the sentences as concurrent while calculating the period of imprisonment undergone, the CBI submitted before the Supreme Court.

“The very yardstick applied is wrong,” Live Law quoted the CBI’s counsel Additional Solicitor General SV Raju as saying. “He has delayed the trial.”

Appearing for Yadav, advocate Kapil Sibal said: “This whole argument that he should have undergone the first sentence then the second sentence is completely wrong.”

“The judge has applied a uniform yardstick,” the legal news outlet quoted Sibal as saying. “It’s the discretion of the judge.”

The Supreme Court said that it was not inclined to interfere with the High Court’s order.

“It will only be appropriate to request the High Court to expedite the hearing of the appeal, preferably within six months,” the bench was quoted as saying.

Apart from the Deoghar case, Yadav has also been convicted for fraudulently withdrawing money from the Dumka and Chaibasa treasuries for purportedly purchasing fictitious medicines and fodder for cattle in the early 1990s.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.