Jharkhand High Court denied bail to fodder scam convict and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad in connection to Dumka treasury case on Friday, rejecting his counsel’s argument seeking respite on the grounds that he has served half of the total sentence.

The RJD supremo’s conviction in Dumka treasury scam involves illegal withdrawals of Rs 3.13 crore. Other financial irregularities against him are related with Ranchi, Chaibasa and Deoghar treasuries, in which he had secured bails. In Dumka treasury, he was awarded a total of 14 years jail term—seven years each under two different sections — by a CBI court.

While hearing Lalu’s petition on Friday, court of justice Apresh Kumar denied the bail stating that there was still time left for him to finish half the jail term.

Lalu’s lawyer Prabhat Kumar told reporters that they can move a fresh petition after two months. “Court is of the view that two months are left for half of the jail term of Lalu to get over. In that case, a fresh petition will have to be moved in high court for the grant of bail,” he said.

Lalu also has the option of approaching the Supreme Court but his lawyers didn’t say anything concrete on this immediately. Currently, he is in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi for age-related ailments after being referred to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi on January 23. He was detected with pneumonia. The entire fodder scam case, in which Lalu got convicted involves embezzlement of Rs 970 crore. However, since January 2018, Lalu had been in hospitals.