Lalu, 15 others convicted in 21yrold fodder scam
LONG HAUL Former CM Jagannath Mishra among six acquitted, sentencing on Jan 3; ‘a lie can travel halfway round the world while truth is putting on its shoes’ says RJD chief in tweet
RANCHI: A special CBI court on Saturday convicted former Bihar chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and 15 other people in a 21-year-old fodder scam case.
Special judge Shivpal Singh, however, acquitted, six others including former chief minister Jagannath Mishra in the case related to fraudulent withdrawal of ₹90 lakh from the Deoghar treasury during 1991-1994.
The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on January 3.
Those convicted included three IAS officers, former animal husbandry department officials and two other politicians – for JD-U MP Jagdish Sharma and former Bihar minister RK Rana. RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said the party will challenge the verdict in the Jharkhand high court.
Lalu remained defiant even after the verdict. “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes...But still prevails...In the end though,” the RJD chief tweeted after he was taken into custody and sent to Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Jail.
“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 said in another tweet.
The fodder scam, probed by the CBI, relates to fraudulent withdrawal of nearly ₹900 crore between 1990 and 1995 when public funds were swindled from different treasuries for fictitious spends on fodder and other expenses for cattle.
This is the second fodder scam case in which Prasad has been convicted. On September 30, 2013, he was convicted in another case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.70 crore from Chaibasa treasury.
The conviction got Prasad five years in prison, disqualification from Parliament and a ban on contesting elections. He was given bail by the Supreme Court in December,2013. Lalu,who has spent 365 days in prison in vary- ing stretches of days, is facing trial in three other cases along with Jagganath Mishra.
Despite the corruption taint, Lalu remained the messiah for a large section of people in Bihar that enabled him to spectacularly decimate the BJP in the 2015 assembly polls amid a countrywide wave in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, the grand alliance he had stitched together fell apart when the Nitish Kumarled JD (U) broke off earlier this year, leaving the RJD and Congress in the opposition.
Credited with stopping BJP leader LK Advani’s ‘rath yatra’ in Bihar prior to the demolition of the Babri Masjid, Lalu was being portrayed as a key cog in a potential secular opposition alliance to take on the BJP in the next Lok Sabha polls, due in 2019.
The BJP, which has successfully used its anti-corruption plank to win election after election, was quick to target Lalu and Congress.
“The alliance between Congress and Lalu Prasad’s party is an alliance of corruption, connivance and cheating the people of India, it is clear from the verdict of the court,” Union minister JP Nadda said.