Ranchi, Jan 5: Special Ranchi Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court will on Friday announce the sentencing of Lalu Prasad, 15 others in a fodder scam case on Friday. The case relates to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar treasury 21 years ago.
Earlier on Thursday, the pronouncement of quantum of sentence was deferred by the court till Friday. The court had earlier deferred the fodder scam sentencing till Thursday, January 4, in wake of the demise of advocate Vindeshwari Parsad.
Judge Shivpal Singh also observed he got phone calls from Lalu Prasad Yadav’s men, in connection with his conviction in the fodder scam case. He also accused Lalu’s family members – his sons, Tej Pratap and Tejashwi – of mouthing casteist statements like ‘if Yadav was a Mishra, it wouldn’t be so difficult for him.’
The judge added, “Laluji, we are getting a lot of references and calls for you, but I told your men that I will take the decision the way I want to, following the law.”
On December 23, the special CBI court convicted the RJD chief and 14 others in the Deoghar Treasury case of the fodder scam. In the same case, former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and six others were acquitted by the court.
The fodder scam pertains to the alleged fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 84.5 lakh from the Deoghar treasury between the years 1994 and 1996 when the RJD chief 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.