AMN /RANCHI
A special CBI court in Ranchi today convicted RJD Chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad and 18 others in the fourth fodder scam case.
The case relates to fraudulent withdrawal of over Rs 3 crore from the Dumka treasury between December 1995 and January 1996.
Another former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra was, however, acquitted along with 11 others.
The arguments of the quantum of punishment will be heard through video conferencing day after tomorrow and will continue till Friday.
Earlier, Lalu Prasad was convicted in three other fodder scam cases. He was awarded a five-year jail term in the first case, three-and-a-half years in the second, and another five-year imprisonment in the third case.
The multi-million-rupee fodder scam surfaced in the 1990s when Lalu Prasad was the Chief Minister of undivided Bihar. The probe was handed over to the CBI on Patna High Court’s order.
Earlier, LALU was convicted on September 30, 2013 in the RC 20A/96 case of Chaibasa pertaining to illegal withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore in the 1990s. He got five years prison term in the case following which he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha and barred from contesting elections for six years after completion of jail term.
There were a total of 47 accused in the fourth fodder scam. Fourteen of them had died during the course of trial while two turned approvers.
“Koi comment nahi karna hai (I do not have to make any comment),” the RJD chief said to mediapersons waiting outside the court here.
In the second case, Prasad was convicted in the RC64A/96 in connection with fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar Treasury in the 1990s. He was awarded 3.5 years sentence in the case on December 23 last year.
In another Chaibasa case, RC 68A/96 pertaining to Rs 37.62 crore Prasad got five-year prison term on January 24 this year.
On the other hand, Jagannath Mishra was acquitted in two fodder cases while being convicted in two cases.
In Monday’s verdict by the special CBI court, former Public Accounts Committee Chairmen Jagdish Sharma and Dhruv Bhagat, ex-MLA RK Rana and former Bihar minister Vidya Sagar Nishad were also acquitted in the case.
Former Income Tax Commissioner AC Choudhary, former IAS officers Beck Julius and Mahesh Prasad and former divisional commissioner MC Subarno were among the ex-government officials who were acquitted. Another former IAS official Phool Chand Singh was convicted along with some former AHD officials and transporters.