Lalu convicted
then rushed to the court from the hospital. Putting his signatures in relevant documents, Prasad returned to the hospital hardly spending 10 minutes in the court.
Monday’s verdict, that acquitted all accused political leaders except Prasad, was described by the RJD workers as a ‘political conspiracy’.
“Lalu goes to jail while Jagannath Mishra gets bail. It is a conspiracy of BJP and Narendra Modi’s government. When they failed to defeat Lalu in politics, they chose different path to crush him,” said senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who was present in Ranchi court on Monday.
Similar allegations were made by the RJD workers when Lalu was convicted and Mishra was acquitted in Deoghar treasury case.
Prasad has now been convicted in four fodder scam cases out of six registered against him in Jharkhand and Bihar. His first conviction came on September 30, 2013, in Chaibasa treasury case related to fraudulent withdrawal of ₹37.70 crore.
He was handed over five years in prison leading to his disqualification from the Lok Sabha membership. After serving sentence for 77 days, Prasad came out of jail on bail granted by the Supreme Court in December that year.
His trouble renewed again last year when a special CBI court on December 23 had convicted him in the second scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal of ₹89.27 lakh from Deoghar treasury.
Prasad was sentenced 3.5 years of jail term in this case. A month later on January 24, another CBI court convicted and sentenced him five years of imprisonment in Chaibasa treasury case related to fraudulent withdrawal of ₹33.13 crore.
He is still facing trial in the last case in Jharkhand. This is the biggest fodder scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal of ₹139 crore from Ranchi’s Doranda treasury and involving 120 accused.
The fodder scam, probed by the CBI, relates to fraudulent withdrawal of nearly ₹950 crore between 1990 and 1995 when public funds were swindled from different treasuries for fictitious spends on fodder and other expenses for cattle. ducing to public mischief) of IPC as prior sanction has to be given by the state government.
Cheema said the probe agency deliberately acted with “undue haste” because the crime had “attracted huge nationwide outcry” and the investigation was so managed as to “minimise the damage to the marauders and to ensure that most of them are released on bail and face no serious trial at all”.
“The true nature of the crime has been subjected to cover up. The conduct of the named accused and others as a lynching mob has been concealed. It has been projected as if the occurrence/events were sudden, without any element of perpetrators having been acted as in conspiracy or as an unlawful assembly,” the victim’s father plea said.
It said that the “maximum artistry” and manipulation was made to weaken the statements of witnesses on the point of identity of various accused on their real role and their having acted in concert.
“That close association of assailants with each other as daily passengers or as villagers or otherwise was strictly held back so as to cover up the involvement of an unlawful assembly and to ensure that the element of conspiracy behind the crime does not come to the surface,” the plea said. capable as technology enhancements from the F-22 and F-35 are continuously integrated across all three platforms, he added.
Lall, however, refused to reply to questions on F-35.
“Any discussions regarding potential new F-35 customers begin at the government-to-government level. It is not our place to speak on behalf of the US government or the government of India,” he said.
Notably, US Pacific Command Commander Admiral Harry Harris during his two recent Congressional testimonies has supported selling F-35 fighter jets to India.
“At the moment, India is considering a number of US systems for purchase, all of which USPACOM fully supports: the F-16 for India’s large single-engine, multi-role fighter acquisition programme,” Harris told the Congressional committees last week.