The former Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad, was released from Birsa Munda jail here on Monday, two days after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the Chaibasa treasury case. It is one of the six cases in which Mr. Prasad is an accused in the Rs. 950-crore fodder scam. He was convicted by a CBI court in Ranchi on September 30 and sentenced to five-year imprisonment.
Rashtriya Janta Dal MLA and Social Welfare Minister in the Jharkhand government Annapurna Devi and RJD MLA Suresh Paswan deposited the bail bond amount in the CBI court on Monday. Mr. Prasad was released from jail at 2 p.m.
On his release, he paid homage to the statue of Birsa Munda outside the jail premises.
Mr. Prasad launched an attack on the BJP and against the party’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi. “Dwarka is Krishna’s birthplace and Dwarka is ours,” he said in a reference Mr. Modi’s speech in Patna in October. “Krishna was born in jail and once out of jail, he destroyed the forces of Kansa. Opportunist parties that try to use religion to gain power will not succeed. BJP stands for Bharat Jalao Party. Recall the events of 1947 and do not let communal forces come to power,” he said.
Mr. Prasad visited a Muslim shrine in Doranda after visiting a Hindu temple in Tamar. “2014 elections will be a fight against communalism. Narendra Modi or any other Modi, I am here now and I will travel across the country to stop communal forces,” he told journalists.
The RJD leader criticised the CBI. “The CBI was unjust to me. They pursued the case without evidence, but I have faith in the judiciary’s fairness.” Mr. Prasad is expected to leave for Patna on Tuesday morning after visiting a temple in Ramgarh and addressing a meeting in Koderma.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and State Congress president Sukhdeo Bhagat welcomed Mr. Prasad’s release on bail.
Meanwhile, CBI officials said that of the six cases in which Mr. Prasad was an accused in the Rs. 950-crore fodder scam, the Deoghar treasury case would be heard next in the CBI court as the trial was almost complete.
