A special CBI court in Ranchi on Saturday convicted Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and 15 others and acquitted former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and five others in the two-decade-old fodder scam case. The sentencing will be on January 3, 2018.
The fodder scam is a collective term for a set of 64 cases, of which 53 were litigated in Ranchi. It all began in 1985, when then CAG T.N. Chaturvedi sniffed out a possible embezzlement of funds from the Bihar Treasury and various departments. The CAG noticed delay in monthly account submissions from the State and also noted small scale false expense reports. Ten years later, the 'small scale' embezzlements added up to Rs. 900 crore.
Of the six fodder scam cases registered against Prasad, this will be the second in which verdict is pronounced. On September 30, 2013, he was held guilty in the first. The five-year prison sentence he got disqualified him from Parliament and he was banned from contesting elections. However, the Supreme Court granted him bail in December that year.
5.10 p.m.
Sources in CBI say Prasad has been taken to Ranchi’s Birsa Munda jail. He will be in the jail till the court announces the quantum of sentence on January 3.
5 p.m.
“We will move the High Court against the CBI court order convicting Lalu Prasad in a fodder scam case,” says RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.
4.15 p.m.
"Truth will win"
''Truth can be made to appear as a lie, as ambiguous or a half lie by concerted onslaught of bias driven propaganda. But blurred layer of bias and hatred will still be removed, come what may! In end Truth will win,'' tweets Lalu Prasad. "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. ....But still prevails...In the end though."
"Had people like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Baba Saheb Ambedkar failed in their efforts, history would have treated them as villains. They still are villains for the biased, racist and caste-ist minds. No one should expect any different treatment," he adds.
"For the spin doctors, the truth stands on its own pedestal. The whole of Bihar is with me in this 'dharamyudh'. You can trouble me, but not vanquish me," he says.
"Feudal forces know that Lalu is not a pin in the eye, but a nail. But am not going to be taken out so easily. Will fight for social justice till my last breath. Will die fighting but defeat the 'Manuvadi' forces," he says.
3.50 p.m.
Verdict is out
The court pronounces the verdict.
Altogether, 22 persons were facing trial in the case.
All the convicted, including Prasad, taken into custody.
2.50 p.m.
Ram Vilas Paswan slams Lalu
Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan slams Prasad for talking to media about his “innocence”.
“Whether he is acquitted or convicted, is for the court to decide. We do comment on it, but he is lecturing on the TV since morning even though the judgement is yet to be delivered,” he told reporters.
Mr. Paswan, chief of the Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP), an NDA ally, also hit out at Prasad, alleging his involvement in corruption as Railway Minister. “He used to be a big shot in the Railways but what did he do there? He just made [money],” the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said.
2.30 p.m.
Lalu appeals for calm
Prasad appeals to party workers and leaders to maintain peace even if he is sent to jail.
The RJD chief, who was coming out from the State guest house to reach the special CBI court, says he has full faith in the judiciary and that he will get justice from the court.
“I appeal to my party workers and leaders to maintain peace and calm in case of my jail sentence…I’ve full faith in judiciary for the justice,” he says.
“I will not be cowed down with such frightening action conspired by the BJP and the RSS… I’ll not take rest until the BJP is wiped out from the country,” he says.
2.15 p.m.
ED files charge sheet against Lalu's daughter Misa Bharti
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) files a charge sheet against Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar in a money laundering case.
ED counsel Nitesh Rana files the charge sheet before the court of Special Judge N.K. Malhotra.
The ED had attached a Delhi farmhouse in connection with its money laundering probe against Ms Bharti and her husband.
2 p.m.
Two decades old case
Two decades have passed since the scam was unearthed. It involved politicians and bureaucrats belonging to successive administration siphoning of several crores of rupees on the pretext of purchasing livestock feed over a period of 20 years. It was one of the early cases where sitting legislators were convicted and had to lose their Assembly and parliamentary seats. It is also the reason why a popular leader such as Mr. Prasad is not contesting elections, even though he played a key role in the RJD-JD(U) combine wresting power in Bihar.
