Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad was on Saturday March 24,2018 sentenced to 14 years in jail and fined Rs60 lakh by a special CBI court in the fourth fodder scam case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury in the early 1990s, a CBI counsel said in Ranchi.
CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh awarded two sentences of seven years each to the former Bihar chief minister under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Acts, he said. Prabhat Kumar, Lalu Prasad’s counsel, told journalists that he will appeal in a higher court against the judgment.
Lalu Prasad has been sentenced to seven years in prison under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged), 477 (fraudulent cancellation, destruction of will or valuable security) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), and penalised Rs 30 lakh.
The court had on 19 March held the 69-year-old RJD chief guilty along with 18 others in connection with the case—RC 38 A/96. Former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra, however, was acquitted in the case along with 12 other accused.
Prasad has been serving prison term in Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi since 23 December last year after being convicted in the second fodder scam case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of money from the Deogarh treasury. The RJD supremo is currently undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi, where he was admitted last week after he complained of chest pain and discomfort in jail.
Note
4 Fodder Scam Cases in which RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has been convicted
First fodder scam case
Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted in the first fodder scam case in 2013 and awarded five years in jail
The court charged the RJD chief with fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 47 lakh from the treasuries at Banka and Bhagalpur districts, where alleged forged and fake bills were drawn by the Animal Husbandry Department in 1995-96 when he was the CM. Among the 45 other convicts were former chief minister Jagannath Misra.
The conviction also barred Yadav from contesting elections for 11 years in line with the Supreme Court order disqualifying convicts jailed for more than two years from contesting for six years after completion of their sentence. Later, he had got bail in the case.
Second fodder scam case
Months after the Grand Alliance collapsed and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar joined hands with the BJP to form a new government, Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted in a second fodder scam case on December 23, 2017. The case pertained to fraudulent withdrawal of money to the tune of over Rs 89 lakh from Deoghar treasury between 1991 and 1994 when Yadav was the chief minister and also handled the finance department.
He was sentenced by a special CBI court to three-and-a-half years of rigorous imprisonment, even though former CM Jagannath Misra was acquitted. Yadav was also imposed a cumulative fine of Rs 5 lakh in connection with charges under the Indian Penal Code and Rs 5 lakh pertaining to charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Third fodder scam case
A month after he was convicted in the second fodder scam case, Lalu Prasad was pronounced guilty in the third case on January 25, 2018, which pertains to withdrawal of funds to the tune of Rs 37.62 crore from the treasury of West Singhbhum (Chaibasa) — now in Jharkhand – in 1992-93. Jagannath Mishra was also convicted. Both Lalu and Mishra were sentenced to five-year rigorous imprisonment under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, along with a cumulative fine of Rs 10 lakh.
Fourth fodder scam case
A special CBI court in Ranchi, on March 19, 2018, pronounced Lalu Prasad Yadav guilty in the fourth fodder scam case pertaining to alleged fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.5 crore from the Dumka treasury (which is now in Jharkhand) over two decades ago. The court, however, acquitted Jagannath Mishra in the case.
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