Lalu is found guilty in fodder scam case
ranchi — A special CBI court on Saturday convicted RJD chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and 15 others in a case relating to the multi-million rupee fodder scam.
The court acquitted another former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and five others in the case, related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs8.45 million from the Deoghar district treasury. The CBI court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on January 3.
Lalu Prasad has been sent to jail. Angry RJD workers tried to stop the police vehicle when Lalu Prasad was being taken to jail.
There were 34 accused in the case and 11 died during trial, while one turned CBI approver and admitted the crime.
The CBI judge first read the six names who were acquitted. The acquitted people include Mishra, former Bihar Minister Vidya Sagar Nisad and then Public Accounts Committee chairman Dhruva Bhagat.
Speaking to reporters on the judgment, senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said “We are disappointed with the judgment. In the same case Jagannath Mishra has been acquitted. Lalu had got jail, while Mishra has got bail. This is the game of Narendra Modi.”
Lalu Prasad and Mishra are already convicted in a fodder scam case in 2013 and are out on bail.
In Patna, the Rashtriya Janata Dal said it will challenge the verdict in the High Court.
“The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will challenge the special CBI court’s order in the High Court soon,” senior party leader Jagdanand Singh, considered close to Lalu Prasad, told the media.
A former state Minister, Singh has termed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as “tota” (parrot) and robot, controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government.
In New Delhi, RJD leader Manoj Jha said that the “caged parrot” (referring to the CBI) has been “unleashed on political rivals” who do not bow before the BJP. —