New Delhi: A special CBI court on Tuesday, February 15, convicted Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad in the fifth and final case of the multi-crore fodder scam.Prasad has been previously convicted in four cases connected with the scam. He has been sentenced to 14 years in jail and fined Rs 60 lakh. Prasad is out of prison after having secured bail in the four cases related to the Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries.The fifth deals with the Rs 139.5 crore Doranda treasury embezzlement.The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on February 18, a CBI counsel said.The court had on January 29 completed hearing arguments in case and reserved its verdict.The court of Special CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) Judge S.K. Shashi had completed the hearing against 99 accused including Prasad, which was underway since February last year.Arguments on behalf of the last accused, Dr Shailendra Kumar, were completed on January 29. All the accused had been ordered to be physically present in the court on the day of the verdict.Also read: 44 Years in Politics, Yet Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Relevance in Bihar Remains UndiminishedOf the original 170 accused in the case, 55 have died, seven have become government witnesses, two have accepted the charges against them and six are absconding.Apart from Prasad, former MP Jagdish Sharma, the then Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Dhruv Bhagat, Animal Husbandry Secretary Beck Julius and Animal Husbandry assistant director Dr K.M. Prasad are the main accused.The Rs 950-crore scam relates to fraudulent withdrawal of public funds from government treasuries in various districts of undivided Bihar.The fodder scam came to light in January 1996 after a raid at the Animal Husbandry Department. The CBI named Prasad as an accused in June 1997. The agency framed charges against Prasad and former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra.In September 2013, the trial court convicted Prasad, Mishra and 45 others in one of the cases related to the fodder scam and Prasad was imprisoned in Ranchi jail.In December 2013, Supreme Court granted bail to Prasad in the case. In December 2017, CBI court found him and 15 others guilty and sent them to Birsa Munda prison. The Jharkhand high court granted bail to Prasad in April 2021.Lalu’s return to the political scene had accompanied a resurgence of support for him and the RJD.“Despite his long absence from the scene, Lalu Yadav still continues to hold sway among the crowds,” Umesh Kumar Ray had reported for The Wire, after Lalu Prasad addressed two public meetings in Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan assembly constituencies ahead of a bypoll.(With PTI inputs)
