A special CBI court in Ranchi convicted Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad in yet another scam case in Dumka, now in Jharkhand, and acquitted former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra in the case. The quantum of sentence is likely to be pronounced on Friday.
The court had postponed the judgment on Thursday in view of the counsel for Lalu Prasad filing a petition under 319 CrPC asking the then three officials of the Accountant General (in the 1990s) be made a party to the case. 19 persons have been found guilty, while 12 have been acquitted.
This is the fourth case relating to the fodder scam, for the fraudulent withdrawal of ₹3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury.
Section 319 Cr PC is invoked when there is some strong and cogent evidence against the accused. Apart from Prasad and Mishra, 29 others, including former IAS officers and Animal Husbandry officials, are accused in the Dumka treasury case.
Reacting to the judgment, senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said: "We'll appeal in higher court against special CBI court and from there we're sure to get justice."
Prasad had already been convicted in three fodder cases while Mishra was convicted in two.
A special CBI court on January 24 sentenced Prasad and Mishra to five years in jail in a fodder scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal of ₹37.62 crore from the Chaibasa treasury.
On January 6, a special CBI court had sentenced Prasad to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined him ₹10 lakh in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of ₹89.27 lakh from the Deoghar treasury 21 years ago.
In 2013, Prasad was convicted in the first fodder scam case involving withdrawal of ₹37.7 crore from the Chaibasa treasury.
Prasad has been lodged in the Birsa Munda jail at Ranchi since December 23 last year after being convicted in the second case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of money from the Deogarh treasury.
A fifth case relating to alleged fraudulent withdrawal of ₹139 crore from the Doranda treasury in Ranchi is pending with the court.
The over ₹900-crore fodder scam cases relate to illegal withdrawal of money from government treasury in different districts in the Animal Husbandry department in undivided Bihar in the 1990s when the RJD was in power in the State.
