National
Laloo released on bail
By Our Staff Correspondent
PATNA, JAN. 23. The former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD president, Laloo Prasad Yadav, was today released on bail after an extended stay in jail for 58 days with a series of cases covering the conspiracy aspect of the fodder scam.
As directed by the Supreme Court, which granted bail on Monday, Mr. Yadav's lawyers submitted a bail bond for Rs. 1 lakh and a surety for an equal sum. Mr. Yadav returned to his 1 Anne Marg residence after a gap of almost two months.
With today's release, Mr. Yadav has obtained either a regular or a provision bail in connection with all the seven conspiracy angle cases of the fodder scam and the disproportionate assets case. With that, his first round of problems end and he could breathe easy till the completion of trial in these cases. The trial is in the DA case is at an advanced stage where the defence witnesses are being examined.
Mr. Yadav has been in and out of jail at least six times over a period of four and half years. He resigned as Chief Minister on July 25, 1997 in the wake of the issuance of a non- bailable warrant for the first time against him and surrendered in court on July 29, 1997. He has almost spent 356 days in all in jail since then in connection with one or the other conspiracy angle cases or the DA case.
Honouring the court's directive, he arrived all alone at his residence sans extravaganza. There was, however, a continuous stream of visitors and sweets were distributed.
The RJD chief will now go to Uttar Pradesh to campaign for the Assembly elections there. He would campaign for the Congress and the BSP, though his party had fielded over 35 candidates. Mr. Yadav underlined the possibility of withdrawing some of them after an assessment.
He accused the BJP of being responsible for the rise in militancy in the country and diverting the attention of the people by raising a war hysteria to cover up its failures and corruption like the coffin purchase scandal.
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