Putting more trouble for RJD chief Lalu Prasad, a Special CBI court on Wednesday sentenced him to five years in jail and slapped a fine of Rs 10 lakh in another fodder scam case RC68A/96 related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 33.67 crore from Chaibasa treasury during 1992-93.
The Special CBI Court of SS Prasad on Wednesday also awarded sentences to 49 others, including former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, convicted earlier on the same day in the case.
Lalu had earlier been awarded five years’ jail term in another fodder scam case in 2013 and for three and half years in yet another case a few days back. “Lalu Prasad, Jagannath Mishra, Jagdish Sharma and RK Rana have been given rigorous imprisonment of five years and have been slapped a fine of Rs 10 lakh in this case,” said the court. Taking a lenient view towards the women accused, they have been given 3-year jail term along with a fine of Rs 80 thousand, it added.
Lalu and other politicians have been convicted under Sections 120B, 409,420, 467,468, 476 and 477A of Indian Penal Code along with 13(2) read with 13(1)(C)(D) of Prevention of Corruption Act.
“They have been sentenced jail term of 5 years and have been slapped fine of Rs 5 lakh each in both IPC and PC Act separately,” said the Court.
Another politician Dhruv Bhagat, who pleaded innocence before the court as he was neither an MLA from 1990-95, nor he or any of his relatives had any relation with the fodder scam, was given 3-year jail term and was slapped a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh. Politician Vidya Sagar Nishad was also given 3.5 years’ jail and was fined Rs 1.5 lakh.
The three IAS officers-Sajal Chakraverty, Phoolchand Singh and Mahesh Prasad--were awarded 4-year jail term and were slapped a fine of Rs 2 lakh. The six Animal Husbandry officers, including KN Jha, KM Prasad, BN Sharma, Ram Prakash Ram, Dr MK Srivastav and Arjun Sharma on the other hand, were also awarded a sentence of 5 years and slapped a fine of Rs 10 lakh to each of them.
All the suppliers related to the case have been awarded jail term for five years and were slapped a fine of Rs 1.25 lakh except Siddharth Kumar and Sushil Kumar who were given 3-year jail and were slapped a fine of Rs 80 thousand.
Earlier, the Special CBI Court convicted 50 out of 56 accused persons in the case and fixed a time of 2:30 pm for sentencing and started hearing arguments on the point of sentencing immediately after that.
Advocates of almost all accused persons pleaded before the court to take a lenient view while sentencing in their case taking their old age and bad health into consideration. The CBI, however, pleaded that they must be given maximum sentences as the case crime being of serious nature, there was no scope for mercy.
“It was the demand of time as well as society that they should not be spared and given maximum sentences,” said CBI Advocate BMP Singh.
Animal Husbandry Officers Ram Prakash Ram and MK Srivastav along with the suppliers Ram Avtar Sharma, Sudeo Rana, Sima Kumar and Vimla Sharma were acquitted by the Court.
The CBI Court, closing the arguments on January 10, had fixed January 24 for the judgment.
Out of the six cases lodged against him in fodder scam, Lalu Prasad has been sentenced imprisonment in three cases and is currently lodged in jail after he was convicted in RC64A/96 on January 23 in which he was later sentenced 3.5 year jail on January 6. Prasad has also been convicted in RC20A/96, another case related to Chaibasa Treasury. 203 witnesses were produced by the CBI in the case while 23 witnesses were produced from the defense side, out of which 17 were of RJD Chief. The CBI submitted chargesheet on December 12, 2001 against 76 accused persons, but 14 of them died during the trial while two others admitted their crimes and have already been sentenced earlier in the case.
Another accused person Phool Singh, on the other hand, has been declared absconding.