Lalu Yadav along with 44 others were on September 30 convicted by the special CBI court in the fodder scam case.

In much-needed relief, the Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to RJD chief Lalu Prasad in the fodder scam case, in which he was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail.

A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam granted bail after noting that several other similarly placed convicts have already been granted bail in the case.

Pleading for bail, Prasad, who lost his membership of Parliament after being convicted in the case, submitted that of the 44 persons convicted along with him, 37 have been granted bail and no one's, except his bail plea has been rejected.

The bench also comprising Justice Ranjan Gogoi, however, left it to the trial court to decide the bail bonds, sureties and other conditions to be imposed on the former Member of Parliament, who is behind the bars for the last two months .

CBI, which is the prosecuting agency in the case, did not oppose Prasad's bail plea.

After the Patna High Court dismissed the former Bihar CM's plea, he moved the top court seeking bail till his appeal against conviction by a special CBI court was decided by the HC.

Lalu, Mishra and 43 others were on September 30 convicted by the special CBI court Judge Pravas Kumar Singh in the fodder case involving fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa Treasury during the Lalu-led RJD regime.

The CBI court had pronounced varying prison terms to the convicted on October 3.

Lalu and others have also moved the Jharkhand High Court against the verdict.

(With PTI inputs)

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