Lalu Prasad Yadav Sentenced To 5 Yrs In Jail, Fined ₹60 Lakh In 5th Fodder Scam Case

Mumbai: A special CBI court in Jharkhand’s Ranchi on Monday sentenced former Bihar CM and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years imprisonment in the fifth fodder scam case.

The court has also slapped a fine of ₹60 lakh on him in connection with the case.

The court on Tuesday found the former Bihar chief minister and 39 others guilty in the Rs 139.5 crore Doranda treasury embezzlement case, the fifth case against them in the fodder scam.

Soon after his conviction, the ailing 73-year-old politician was shifted to Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Jail and then admitted to the government-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS).

The fodder scam of Rs 950 crore pertains to the fraudulent withdrawal of government funds in various districts of undivided Bihar.

Of the original 170 accused in the case, 55 have died, seven have become public witnesses, two have accepted the charges against them and six are absconding. The court had pronounced its verdict on February 15 against the remaining 99 accused, including Yadav.

The scam came to light in January 1996 after a raid in the Animal Husbandry Department by Chaibasa Deputy Commissioner Amit Khare.

The CBI was appointed by the Patna High Court in March 1996 after mounting pressure to investigate the case. The CBI registered an FIR in the case at a time when Bihar was still undivided.

In June 1997, Yadav was named an accused in the case for the first time in the charge sheet filed by the CBI.

The RJD patriarch, who had been lodged in jail in Ranchi since December 2017, was released on bail in April last year.

The veteran leader, however, served most of his sentence at the RIMS in Ranchi. He was shifted to Delhi in January last year after his health condition deteriorated.

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