Lalu gets 3.5 yrs in jail for fodder scam
Family cries conspiracy, says will challenge order
Rather than practising BJP’S Simple Rule — “Follow us or We will Fix you”. I will die happily fixing myself for Social justice, harmony & equality
A tweet from Lalu Prasad’s official Twitter handle
RANCHI: A Ranchi court on Saturday sentenced former Bihar chief minister Lalu 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 a government treasury 21 years ago.
Special CBI judge Shivpal Singh pronounced the quantum of punishment to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Prasad and 15 more convicts in the case through video conference, after the court convicted them on December 23 last year. Prasad is lodged in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Jail since his conviction.
The jail terms for the convicts range from three-and-a-half years to seven years, and fines between ~5 and ~10 lakh. The fraud was part of the fodder scam that came to light in 1996, and a CBI probe allegedly found that more than ~900 crore had been siphoned off from several local treasuries by showing spends for fictitious medicines and fodder for cattle.
Prasad didn’t speak throughout the sentencing, but a tweet from his Twitter handle targeted the BJP. “Rather than practising BJP’S Simple Rule — “Follow us or We will Fix you”. I will die happily fixing myself for Social justice, harmony & equality,” read the post shortly after the verdict. Prasad’s younger son, Tejashwi Yadav, said in Patna that the special CBI court’s verdict will be challenged in the Jharkhand high court. He also accused the BJP and chief minister Nitish Kumar of conspiring against his father, saying his “mass appeal and courage to take on communal forces have left his detractors insecure”.
“Lalu is not the name of a person but of an ideology. We, his followers, will not be cowed,” said the 28-year-old former Bihar deputy chief minister.
A sentence exceeding three years means 69-year-old Prasad, who had undergone a heart surgery in 2014 and is under strict dietary restrictions, cannot immediately apply for bail in the lower court and must wait until the high court hears his petition.