Lalu Prasad convicted in Dumka fodder scam, former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra acquitted

Mangalore Today News Network

Mar 19, 2018: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted in the Dumka fodder scam today.

 

The CBI court in Ranchi, however, acquitted another former Bihar chief minister, Jagannath Mishra, in the case.

This fodder scam relates to fraudulent withdrawals of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury between December 1995 and January 1996.

RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh slammed Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for Jagannath Mishra’s acquittal.

"Ajab hai Narendra Modi aur Nitish ka mel, ajab hai khel, dubara se ho gaya Jagannath Mishra riha, aur Lalu Yadav ko jail. Ek aadmi ko jail, ek aadmi ko bail, ye hai Narendra Modi ka khel," the RJD leader said.

The hearing on the quantum of sentence in the case will begin on Wednesday (March 21).

FODDER SCAM CASES

The hearing in the Dumka fodder case was completed on March 5 and the verdict was scheduled for March 15. The pronouncement of the verdict was deferred till March 17 and then postponed to Monday.

RJD chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad was convicted in the first fodder scam case in 2013 and was awarded five years in jail.

Lalu Prasad was again convicted by a special CBI court in a second fodder scam case on December 23, 2017. He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail on January 6.

On January 24, Lalu Prasad was convicted in yet another fodder scam case, this one pertained to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.2 crore from the Chaibasa treasury in 1992-1993.

The fodder scam surfaced in the 1990s when Lalu Prasad was the chief minister of an undivided Bihar. The investigation was subsequently handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation on a Patna High Court’s order.

The bulk of the fodder scam cases were transferred to Ranchi after Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000.

Courtesy: Yahoo.com