Ranchi, Dec 23: The special CBI court on Saturday convicted Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and 14 others in the Deoghar Treasury case of the fodder scam. The RJD supremo was sent to jail from the court premises. The quantum of punishment for the RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav will be decided on January 3, 2018, Special CBI judge Shivapal Singh ruled.
However, former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and six others were acquitted in the case. Speaking to reporters after the verdivct, RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha said, “We trust the Indian judiciary, but there are other political forces that is determined to bring down the legacy of Lalu Prasad Yadav. We will continue to fight for justice.”
“Kind of evidences we have, we’ll get redressal at a higher court. Politically I know this regime, they have this typical Standard Operating Procedure-Try to make a deal with your opposition, if you fail…scare them. Want to tell them-Your end has begun,” Jha added.
On the other hand senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi took a dig at Lalu and tweeted,”Jo Boya wo paya! Boya ped babul ka toh aam kahan se hoyi! (We get what we sow).”
Janata Dal United spokesperson Neeraj Kumar mocked the RJD chief and posted, “Lalu Prasad is an icon of corruption. This verdict is a New Year’s gift for him.”
Lalu Prasad Yadav was accompanied by son Tejashwi Yadav. Before the verdict was out, Lalu had expressed full faith in the judiciary and made an appeal to the people to maintain law and order. “I have faith that I will get justice. Whatever be the judgment, appeal to people of Bihar to maintain law and order,” he said. Jagannath Mishra also said that he has full faith in the judiciary.
A day before, while speaking with news agency ANI, Lalu Yadav hoped that the fodder scam judgment would be like 2G and Adarsh scam-like verdict in which all the accused were acquitted. “I do hope that I will get justice as in the 2G spectrum case … I have full faith in the judiciary but whatever verdict will come, I will abide by it,” Lalu Yadav was quoted as saying by ANI.
The former chief minister has also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the RSS, and Nitish Kumar for being “behind all this”. He said, “They want me to be sent to jail so that they will have no political opponent, but they don’t know that every worker of the RJD is a Lalu Yadav. We will not let BJP’s conspiracies work.”
A special CBI court today pronounced verdict in one of the three multi-crore fodder scam cases against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and 20 others. The fodder scam pertains to the alleged fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 84.5 lakh from the Deoghar treasury between 1994 and 1996 when Lalu Prasad was the Bihar chief minister. Overall, the fodder scam is the fraudulent withdrawal of more than Rs 900 crore from the Chaibasa treasury for nearly 20 years.