Lalu Prasad Yadav

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the CBI to file reply by April 9 and said Yadav's bail plea will be taken up for hearing next Wednesday.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to respond in two weeks on Yadav's plea challenging the January 10 verdict of the Jharkhand High Court rejecting bail to him in these cases.

The fodder scam related to fraudulent withdrawal of government funds from the treasuries of various districts of undivided Bihar in the 1990s when RJD was in power and Yadav the chief minister.

The former Bihar chief minister also tweeted a newspaper report about poor maintenance and services provided at a shelter home in Mokama town, about 100 kms from here, which was in news following the escape of seven girls on Saturday, six of whom were traced within 24 hours.

The apex court Thursday came down heavily on the Bihar government for its management of 16 shelter homes in the state, other than that at Muzaffarpur, and warned that unsatisfactory response of its queries will force it to summon the chief secretary.

The RJD has also been accusing the Modi government of dithering on the issue with its refusal to bring in an ordinance that could overturn the recent Supreme Court judgement on the UGC's decision.

The cases relate to alleged irregularities in granting the operational contract of two IRCTC hotels to a private firm

The same court had on January 4 reserved its order on the RJD supremo's bail plea after hearing arguments of his counsel Kapil Sibal and that of the CBI.

Special judge Arun Bharadwaj passed the directions after he was told that the accused could not appear before the court, as per earlier direction, owing to his ill health.

The properties include a high-end under construction mall in Patna, a residence in New Friends Colony, New Delhi and a two-and-a-half acre farm near Delhi airport

Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj said the court needed time to go through the documents filed by the Enforcement Directorate before taking cognisance of the charge sheet.

Some media reports have attributed Lalu's deteriorating health to corruption cases affecting his family and also reports of political one-upmanship between his two sons.

After his surrender before Judge S S Prasad, RJD chief's advocate Prabhat Kumar said his client had been suffering from various ailments.

The Jharkhand High Court had yesterday refused to extend the provisional bail of the former Bihar chief minister and asked him to surrender by August 30 before the CBI court.

The high court had on May 11 granted six weeks provisional bail to Prasad and again extended it till August 14.

The RJD supremo, who is serving sentences in a number of fodder scam cases, is also scheduled to complete formalities for availing a six-week provisional bail granted to him by the Jharkhand High Court last week for medical treatment.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar directed the CBI to get the required nod till June 1 to prosecute Additional Member of Railway Board, B K Agarwal, who was then the group general manager of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

Lalu, who has been convicted in three fodder scam cases by a special CBI court in Ranchi since December last year, is undergoing treatment at RIMS hospital in the Jharkhand capital. He will be flown to Patna this evening.

The septuagenarian Prasad, who has been convicted in three fodder scam cases by a special CBI court at Ranchi since December last year, is ailing and currently undergoing treatment at RIMS hospital in the Jharkhand capital.

Modi's allegation comes days after he claimed that Lalu Prasad's family, including his son Tejashwi, acquired a two-storeyed building of Tata Iron and Steel Company located in a posh locality of Patna worth crores through a shell company named 'Fairgrow Holding Pvt Ltd'.