New Delhi/Ranchi: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad was on Saturday convicted in a second fodder scam case, extending his isolation from India’s electoral politics.
Special CBI court judge Shivpal Singh held Lalu Prasad, a former Bihar chief minister, and 15 others guilty of embezzling Rs89.27 lakh from Deoghar Treasury between 1991 and 1994. His predecessor Jagannath Mishra, who was also among the accused, was acquitted.
Lalu Prasad’s quantum of punishment will be announced on 3 January. He has now been taken to the Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi.
In 2013, another court sentenced Lalu Prasad to five years in prison for fraudulently withdrawing Rs37.8 crore from the Bihar government treasury for fictitious medicines and fodder for cattle over a period of 20 years. Prasad was barred from contesting elections. He spent two months in jail in 2013 before he got bail from the Supreme Court as he challenged his conviction. The court decision is awaited.
RJD spokesperson Sanjay Jha said Prasad’s attorneys would challenge his conviction in an appeals court. Soon after his conviction, Yadav tweeted “In (the) end Truth will win.” RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said the party will move Bihar high court against the conviction.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a chargesheet in the fodder scam against 38 persons on 27 October 1997. Eleven of them have since died and three turned approvers while two other accused confessed and were convicted in 2006-07, a CBI official said.
Indian judges are now expediting trials of politicians following a Supreme Court order to reach verdicts within one year in cases in which lawmakers are accused of serious crimes. The Supreme Court order is part of its attempt to clean up India’s electoral system by making it more difficult for politicians with criminal cases to contest elections. Indian lawmakers are now barred from running in elections if they are found guilty of offenses carrying a jail term of at least two years.