Lalu convicted in fodder scam
Case pertains to `84.5 lakh withdrawal
In a major blow to RJD chief Lalu Yadav and his family, the special CBI court on Saturday found him and 15 other accused guilty in the fodder scam case. On the other hand, six other accused including former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra facing similar charges were acquitted.
Mr. Yadav was taken into custody immediately after CBI court found him guilty and was sent to Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi. The quantum of punishment in the case will be decided on January 3.
Sources from Ranchi told this newspaper that acquittal of Jagannath Mishra and six others came as a setback for Lalu Yadav who had hoped for a 2Glike of verdict in his favor.
“This is not a final verdict, we will move the High Court against CBI court’s order which convicted Lalu Yadav in the fodder scam case,” senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told reporters after the verdict. Lalu Yadav has so far been convicted in two cases while four more cases are pending against him.
The case pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of more than `84.5 lakh from Deoghar treasury when he was the Chief Minister of Bihar between 1991 and 1994.
The fodder scam case had surfaced in 1996 and a charge sheet against 38 persons was filed by the CBI on October 27, 1997.
The case pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of
84.5 lakh from Deoghar Treasury between 1991 and 1994. A charge sheet was filed against 38 persons on October 27, 1997. As many as 11 of them died and three turned approvers while two other accused confessed and were convicted in 2006-07.
Six including another former chief minister Jagannath Mishra acquitted.
RJD Chief Lalu Yadav on Saturday, after being convicted in the fodder scam case, lashed out at the BJP for its alleged vendetta politics and claimed that “people of Bihar was with him and he will continue to fight against BJP”.
Lalu also played a caste card and attacked the BJP through a barrage of tweets after he was pronounced guilty. He stated: “Powerful people and powerful classes always managed to divide society into ruling and the ruled classes. And whenever anyone from the lower hierarchy challenged this unjust order, they would be deliberately punished.”
The verdict in the fodder scam case has come at a time when Lalu Yadav was preparing to stitch a larger secular alliance at the national level against the BJP.
After the dramatic collapse of Grand Secular Alliance in June this year, Lalu had managed to stay in alliance with the Congress in Bihar despite opposition from a faction. There is a buzz in the political circle that a section in the Bihar unit of the Congress may oppose the high command’s decision to remain in alliance with the RJD.
The speculation that Lalu’s conviction will impact the political equation and break the grand secular alliance was however dismissed by many RJD leaders.
“People know that cases were filed against him because he was talking about a stronger and larger secular alliance against the BJP at the national level,” RJD legislator Mohammad Neamtullah told this newspaper.
The RJD leader is of the view that Lalu’s supporters especially Muslim-Yadav factor are feeling betrayed by series of cases against him and his entire family. They are upset feeling that their leaders — Lalu and Tejashwi Yadav — have been implicated in “politically motivated cases”, he said.
The RJD’s vote share has been about 18-20 percent in the last four elections. Muslims and Yadavs, who form over 30 per cent of Bihar’s population, consider Lalu Yadav as their messiah.
But the scenario may change because Lalu promoting his younger son Tejashwi Yadav to lead the party may not go down well with several senior most RJD leaders.