Lalu gets 5 years in jail in third fodder scam case

Ranchi: Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Yadav and his longtime aide, Jagannath Mishra were sentenced to five years in jail and a Rs. 5 lakh fine each in a third fodder scam case on Wednesday. The RJD supremo is already serving a jail term in the second fodder scam case. Verdicts in two more cases against him are expected over the next few months.

The fodder scam involved the embezzlement of more than Rs. 970 crore in government funds during Lalu Yadav's term as the Chief Minister of undivided Bihar from 1990 to 1997. The latest case involves the siphoning of Rs. 33.67 crore from the Chaibasa treasury against an allocation of Rs. 7.10 lakh in 1992-93. Yadav was named as the main conspirator by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Soon after the verdict, the RJD said the special CBI court order was not final and it would appeal to the high court and, if necessary, in the Supreme Court.

The leader of the opposition in Bihar Assembly and Lalu Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav also accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the BJP of framing his father.

"We have to abide by whatever is the court's ruling. But the CBI court order is not going to be final. We will appeal to the high court and, if need be, in the Supreme Court," Yadav said about his father's conviction in the third fodder scam case.

On January 6, the RJD leader was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined Rs 10 lakh by another CBI judge in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

Prasad had been convicted in the first fodder scam case involving the withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa treasury on September 30, 2013, and given a five-year prison term.

He faces another two scam cases for illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka Treasury and Rs 184 crore from the Doranda Treasury.