In the biggest setback yet for RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, a special CBI court in Ranchi, on Saturday (March 24), sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment in the Fodder Scam related Dumka Treasury case.
The former Bihar chief minister has been awarded seven years imprisonment for charges framed against him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and a similar jail term forhis conviction in charges under the Prevention of Corruption Acts. The sentences will run consecutively. The Special CBI court of judge Shivpal Singh has also fined the RJD chief Rs 60 lakh for his role in the Dumka Treasury case.
The CBI court had, on March 19, convicted Lalu and 18 others on various charges related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury between December 1995 and January 1996. Judge Shivpal Singh had, however, acquitted former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra – a co-accused in all Fodder scam related cases – and 12 others of all charges in the Dumka Treasury case.
The court had earlier postponed the judgement in view of Lalu Prasad’s counsel filing a petition under section 319 of the CrPC asking that the then three officials of the Accountant General (during the period when the allegedly fraudulent withdrawals were made from the Dumka treasury) be made party to the case. Section 319 CrPC can be invoked when there is strong and cogent evidence against the accused.
This is the fourth of five cases linked with the Fodder Scam in which Lalu has been convicted and the first in which he has been awarded over five years in jail. His first conviction came on September 30, 2013, in the Chaibasa treasury case related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.70 crore. The conviction and award of a five-year jail term, had led to the disqualification of Lalu’s membership of the Lok Sabha. After spending 77 days in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda jail, Lalu was granted bail by the Supreme Court in December 2013.
However, four years later, trouble renewed for the RJD chief with the special CBI court convicting him on December 23, 2017 him in the Deoghar Treasury case related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh and sentencing him to 3.5 years in prison. A month later, on January 24, Lalu was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment in another case linked with the Chaibasa treasury, one related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 33.13 crore.
The fodder scam cases in which Lalu has been convicted had been transferred to Ranchi after Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000.
The RJD chief is still awaiting judgment in the fifth fodder scam case, one linked to allegedly fraudulent withdrawals to the tune of Rs 139 crore made from the Doranda Treasury which involves a staggering 120 other accused.
Lalu’s son Tejashwi Yadav and his lawyer Prabhat Kumar have said that they will appeal against the conviction. Tejashwi Yadav, who has emerged as the political successor of Lalu and has been leading the RJD ever since his father was sent to jail last year, told reporters: “We will challenge the verdict in the high court. We will decide our legal strategy after studying all verdicts delivered in the four fodder scam related cases. There is also a threat to Lalu ji’s lifeand a conspiracy is being hatched against him by the BJP and (Bihar chief minister) Nitish Kumar.”