Ex- Bihar CM Yadav found guilty in fodder scam case, to be sentenced on Jan 3

Published On: December 23, 2017 04:36 PM NPT By: Agencies

Photo Courtesy: Agencies

NEW DELHI, Dec 23: Former chief minister and influencing leader of Bihar state, Lalu Prasad Yadav has been found guilty in one of the four pending fodder scam cases.

Special CBI judge Shivpal Singh pronounced the verdict in a packed courtroom on Saturday.

The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on January 3.

Lalu was among the 15 of the 22 accused found guilty by a special CBI court in Ranchi for the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 84.5 lakh from the Deoghar district treasury between 1994 and 1996.

The convicts, including the RJD chief, were taken into custody immediately after the pronouncement of the verdict.

Seven of the accused, including former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra, were acquitted, reported the news agencies.

Earlier in the day, before the verdict was pronounced, Lalu had expressed his "respect" for the country's courts.

"We trust and respect the judiciary. We will not let BJP's conspiracies work. The way things happened in the 2G case, the way they happened for Ashok Chavan, the same will happen for me," he said.

The RJD chief faced five cases in the fodder scam, of which now three are pending. He had been sentenced to five years in jail and fined Rs 25 lakh for the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.5 crore from the Chaibasa treasury in October 2013 but was granted bail by the Supreme Court in December 2013.

In 2014, the Jharkhand high court had stayed the trial against the former Bihar chief minister in four of the pending cases saying that a person convicted in one case could not be tried in similar cases based on same witnesses and evidence. The order, however, was quashed by the apex court, which ordered Lalu to stand trial in all pending fodder scam cases in which he was an accused.

On Friday, Lalu had stressed that the judgment in the fodder scam would not adversely impact the RJD, which would continue to be led by his sons Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav.

Hours before the judgment in the fodder scam, the Enforcement Directorate filed a charge sheet against Lalu's daughter Misa Bharti and her husband in a money laundering case.