Fodder scam case: RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav present in special CBI court in Ranchi today
Ranchi, Jharkhand:
A special CBI court in Jharkhand’s Ranchi has found RJD chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav guilty of illegal withdrawal of Rs 139.35 crore from Doranda treasury.
Lalu Yadav – who has now been convicted in all five fodder scam cases in which he was named as a conspirator – was present in the courtroom on Tuesday morning when Judge CK Shashi read out the verdict.
98 other accused were also physically present, of whom 24 were acquitted.
Of the rest, 35 were sentenced to three years in prison, including former MP Jagdish Sharma and the then Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Dhruv Bhagat. This makes them eligible to go for bail.
The sentence for Lalu Yadav and 39 others found guilty will be pronounced on February 21.
Lalu Yadav has already been convicted in four other cases related to the infamous fodder scam of Rs 950 crore – fraud of Rs 37.7 crore and Rs 33.13 crore from Chaibasa treasury, Rs 89.27 crore from Deoghar treasury and Rs 3.76 crore from state. Withdrawal. Dumka Treasury.
He was also fined Rs 60 lakh for his conviction in the Dumka case.
He has challenged all the previous four convicts and will probably challenge the same.
All the cases pertain to misappropriation of government funds for cattle feed.
So far he has been sentenced to a total of 14 years in prison, but is out on bail in four convicted cases; The last (Dumka treasury case) was in April last year. The case involved money taken by the Animal Husbandry Department of Bihar between 1991 and 1996, when Lalu Yadav was the chief minister.
He has spent more than 3.5 years in judicial custody as part of his sentence.
In jail since December 2017, the 73-year-old served most of his sentence at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Jharkhand. He was brought to Delhi in January last year after his health deteriorated.
However, in this case, if the sentence is given for more than three years, then Lalu Yadav will have to go back to jail.
In his absence, his son Tejashwi Yadav led the RJD and is credited with the party’s strong performance in the 2020 Bihar election; This was the first time in 40 years that Lalu Yadav missed the state election campaign.
However, his absence did not prompt him to relinquish control of the RJD.
Last week he clarified that he has no such plans despite his legal and medical problems, and that his son Tejashwi Yadav will have to wait before taking his place as party chief.
Tejashwi Yadav is now the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly.
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