RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. Express Photo by Alok Jain.
Hearing on the quantum of punishment of former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in a fodder scam case concluded on Friday before a special CBI court here. The arguments on the same of five other convicts also concluded today. The arguments on quantum of punishment for the six remaining convicts will be completed on Saturday.
For the first time in this case, the hearing was conducted through a video-conferencing facility. This will be used on Saturday as well.
Apart from Yadav, the other four convicts, whose arguments were heard today, were R K Rana, Mahesh Prasad, R R Joshi and Phool Chandra Singh. Barring Joshi and Yadav, all the other accused were senior IAS officials. Joshi was a supplier. Also Read: Calls made to CBI judge not from partymen, clarifies RJD
Lalu Prasad Yadav, along with 15 others, was convicted last year on December 23 in connection with RC-64/96, pertaining to alleged withdrawal of funds, using fraudulent methods, to the tune of Rs 89 lakhs from Deogarh Treasury between 1990 and 1994 when he was the chief minister of Bihar.
The court had, on Thursday, heard the arguments of the five convicts. The arguments of the remaining convicts were to be heard on Friday.
Yadav’s counsel Prabhat Kumar said: “We have appealed for minimum possible punishment on grounds of health, age and the fact that he has been contesting the case for over 20 years.”
Kumar added that his 70-year-old client has undergone a heart surgery and was also a diabetes patient. “Also, we have submitted that he has already undergone incarceration of around one year in this particular case,” he said.
The counsel for CBI, however, pressed for maximum punishment.
Earlier, the court allowed the request by three senior IAS officials for an upgrade to Upper Division jail. Besides, it had also directed jail authorities to provide all possible amenities to Yadav, who had told the court that he was feeling cold inside. Also Read: Lalu Yadav tells court ‘it’s cold in jail’, judge says then ‘play tabla’