Lalu Yadav gets convicted in 5th case of fodder scam
As many as 75 of the accused, including Prasad, were convicted, while 24 were acquitted. The quantum of Prasad"s punishment will be decided on February 21. As of now, the former chief minister is under judicial custody.
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Ranchi, Feb 15: Lalu Prasad, head of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and former Bihar chief minister, was convicted of fraudulent withdrawal of ₹139.35 crore from Doranda treasury in the fodder scam case by a CBI special court in Ranchi.
As many as 75 of the accused, including Prasad, were convicted, while 24 were acquitted. The quantum of Prasad's punishment will be decided on February 21. As of now, the former chief minister is under judicial custody.
The RJD supremo, who has been making a slow comeback to the state's politics, came to Ranchi on Sunday to be physically present in the court during the hearing.
Of the 75 convicted, around 30 have been given punishment up to three years. Quantum of punishment for Lalu Prasad and others would be decided on February 21. Currently, Prasad has been taken into judicial custody. We have put up a petition before the court regarding his health condition. He has been under treatment at RIMS and AIIMS. Now whether the court would send him to jail or RIMS will be decided post lunch," said Prasad's counsel Anant Kumar.
Prasad, already convicted in four other cases of the fodder scam, was an accused in the fifth and final case. On January 29, the court had completed hearing arguments in the ₹139.35 crore Doranda treasury embezzlement case involving Prasad and had reserved its verdict.
The court of Special CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) Judge SK Shashi had completed the hearing against 99 accused, including Prasad, which was underway since February last year. After arguments were completed on January 29, the court had asked all the accused to be physically present on the day of the verdict.
Of the original 170 accused in the case, 55 have died, seven have become government witnesses, two have accepted the charges against them and six are absconding.
Apart from Prasad, former MP Jagdish Sharma, the then Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Dhruv Bhagat, Animal Husbandry secretary Beck Julius and Animal Husbandry assistant director Dr KM Prasad are the key accused.
The ₹950-crore scam relates to fraudulent withdrawal of public funds from government treasuries in various districts of undivided Bihar. Prasda, who has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and slapped with a total fine of ₹60 lakh, has secured bail in the four cases related to Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries.
The fodder scam came to light in January 1996 after a raid at the Animal Husbandry department. The CBI had named Prasad as an accused in June 1997. The agency framed charges against Prasad and Mishra, also a former chief minister.