Lalu sentenced to 7 years in prison in fourth fodder scam case

PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was on Saturday sentenced to seven years in prison and fined Rs 30 lakh in the fourth fodder scam case. A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ranchi had on March 19 convicted the former Bihar chief minister in the case related to multi-million rupee fodder scam.
Judge Shiv Pal Singh had held him and 18 others guilty and acquitted 12 accused in the fourth case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from Dumka treasury between December 1995 and January 1996. There were a total of 47 accused in the fourth fodder scam, fourteen of whom had died during the course of the trial, while two turned approvers.
Lalu has already been convicted in three other cases of the scam which took place when he was the chief minister of Bihar. He has been in Birsa Munda jail at Ranchi since December 23, 2017, after being convicted in the second case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of money from Deogarh treasury.
He was convicted on September 30, 2013 in the Chaibasa case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore in the 1990s. He was awarded five years prison term in the case following which he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha and barred from contesting elections for six years after completion of jail term.
In the second case, Lalu was convicted in connection with fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar Treasury in the 1990s. He was awarded 3.5 years sentence in the case on December 23, 2017.
In another Chaibasa case of Rs 37.62 crore fraud, Lalu got five years prison term on January 24, 2018, while Mishra was acquitted in two fodder cases while being convicted in two cases.
The fifth case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 139 crore from the Doranda treasury in Ranchi is pending with the court.