Fodder scam: Lalu Prasad Yadav sentenced to five years jail term in fifth case

A CBI court on Monday sentenced former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years imprisonment in the fifth fodder scam case and imposed a fine of Rs 60 lakhs on him.

The RJD chief was among the 75 suspects convicted by a special CBI court in his final fodder scam case that involved withdrawal of 139.35 crore illegally in 1995-96 from the Doranda treasury.

The court pronounced the sentence after virtually hearing arguments on the quantum of the sentence.

After his conviction in the case on February 15, Lalu Prasad Yadav was lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail and then shifted to state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi.

Of 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.

Lalu had secured bail after being sentenced to a total of 14 years in prison in the four cases related to Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries since his first conviction in 2013. He was convicted in the second case in 2017, and the third and fourth in January and March 2018.

Earlier, the RJD supremo, who has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and slapped with a total fine of Rs 60 lakh, secured bail in the four cases related to Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries.

Though CBI had registered 64 cases in connection with the multi-crore scam, Lalu was made a party in six of them; of which, five cases were transferred to Jharkhand after bifurcation of Bihar and one was dealt in Patna.

Meanwhile, reacting to Lalu's jail sentence, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar Yadav said that their government has not registered any cases against him.

The fifth fodder scam case, RC/47A/96, is considered the most important in the wake of the biggest volume of money, Rs 139.5 crore, involved and the longest period of fake withdrawals from the Doranda treasury between 1990-91 and 1995-96. Lalu is among the 99 accused in the case.

The amount is fraudulently withdrawn in name of buying fodder, medicines and equipment for the animal husbandry department (AHD).

A case (60/96) was registered with the Doranda police station on February 17, 1996, in connection with the case.

On March 11, 1996, the Patna high court ordered a CBI investigation into the case. The state government had approached the SC against the order but its prayer was rejected.