FODDER CASE: LALU GETS 14YR JAIL

RANCHI: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Saturday sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad to 14 years in prison for corruption.

The order has dealt a massive setback to the embattled politician who has been in a Ranchi jail since December after his conviction in two similar cases.

The latest conviction and sentencing relates to the fraudulent withdrawal of ₹3.76 crore from the treasury in Dumka from December 1995 to January 1996. Dumka is now a district of Jharkhand, which was carved out of Bihar in 2000.

The court on Saturday awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) to Prasad under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and a separate seven years of RI under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

The court said the sentences would run consecutively, meaning that Prasad would have to serve a total of 14 years in prison in this case.

It also slapped a fine of ₹60 lakh on Prasad. Not paying the fine wild add two years of simple imprisonment to the former Bihar CM’s punishment. The corruption cases are part of the so-called fodder scam in Bihar, which involved the theft of state funds to the tune of ₹950 crore, purported to be for the procurement of fodder and other supplies for livestock that didn’t exist.

“This is for the first time in the history of fodder scam cases that the court announced that punishments awarded under IPC and PC Act would run consecutively. In all other 50 fodder scam cases disposed of till date, the sentences given under the two laws run concurrently,” said Prasad’s advocate Prabhat Kumar.