Lalu Gets 3.5 Years Jail in Fodder Scam, Here’s Who Else Did

Of the 22 others accused, 15 were found guilty, while seven were declared innocent.

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court in Ranchi, on 6 January, sentenced former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and 15 others to 3.5 years of jail. The 15 have been fined 5 lakhs in the Rs 900 crore fodder scam case.

Lalu was fined Rs 5 lakh for each case, failing which he would serve another six months in jail, a CBI counsel said.

Of the 22 others accused, 15 were found guilty. Seven people, including former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, were declared innocent in the same case on 23 December. All the 15 convicts, including the RJD chief, appeared via video conferencing in the hearing which concluded on 6 January. He was convicted for the offences of cheating, along with criminal conspiracy, under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act, PTI reported.

Lalu Prasad is currently lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi. In a written plea on 4 January, the RJD chief sought leniency from the CBI court, citing illness and old age, according to his counsel Chittaranjan Prasad. RJD sources said that the party would appeal against the verdict, PTI reported.

But who are the others who have been accused in the fodder scam?

Fodder Scam: Who Are the Other Accused?

The other convicts in the case are: Phool Chand, Mahesh Prasad, Bake Julius, Sunil Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Sudhir Kumar and Raja Ram. They have been sentenced to 3.5 years in jail and have been fined Rs 5 lakh each.

The quantum of sentence pertains to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury when Lalu was Bihar’s chief minister between 1991 and 1994.

What was the Fodder Scam?

The 20-year-old fodder scam pertains to the alleged fraudulent withdrawal of over Rs 900 crore by the Animal Husbandry department from various districts during Lalu’s tenure as the chief minister between 1990 and 1997.

Lalu’s predecessor, Jagannath Mishra, who was then with the Congress, had been acquitted by Justice Shivpal Singh. Mishra, who joined Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) after a brief stint with the NCP, was found guilty in the first Chaibasa case, and sentenced to five years in jail. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in December 2013, along with Lalu.

A total of 38 people were named in the CBI chargesheet in the Deoghar treasury case in October 1997. Three of the accused turned approvers, two confessed to their crime and were sentenced in 2006 and 11 died during the trial.

The arguments for the Deoghar case concluded on 13 December.

(With inputs from PTI)