The Supreme Court on Friday said it will hear Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s bail plea in three fodder scam cases on April 10, reported PTI. The bench asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to file a reply by April 9.

Yadav’s counsel Kapil Sibal sought urgent listing of the bail plea. He said a notice has been issued in the matter. On March 15, the top court had ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to respond to Yadav’s bail plea within two weeks.

The former Bihar chief minister has applied for bail on medical grounds. He has been undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi.

Yadav had challenged the Jharkhand High Court’s rejection of his bail plea in January in the cases.

The fodder scam, exposed in 1996, involves the embezzlement of around Rs 1,000 crore from the state exchequer for the purchase of fictitious medicines and fodder for cattle in the early 1990s. The RJD chief has been lodged in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Jail since a CBI court convicted him in three cases related to the scam. He already faces more than 13 years in jail.