New Delhi: Lalu Prasad Yadav, the former Bihar Chief Minister was sentenced to five years in prison after he was pronounced guilty in a third case of the multi-crore fodder scam.
Apart from from the RJD Chief, another former chief Minister Jaganath Mishra was also found guilty and awarded a five year term too. 50 others were also found guilty.
The case is related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 33.67 crore from Chaibasa treasury in 1992-1993. Both Lalu and Mishra were also fined Rs 5 lakh each by the Ranchi court.
The allegation is that fake allotment letters were used to withdraw Rs 33.67 crore instead of the state sanctioned amount of Rs 7.10 lakh.
In all there are 56 accused, including former Bihar minister Vidyasagar Nishad, ex-Bihar Assembly PAC chief Jagdish Sharma, former MLAs Dhruv Bhagat and R K Rana and three ex-IAS officers. Two government servants and four fodder suppliers were also acquitted.
Soon after the verdict, the RJD said the special CBI court order was not final and it would appeal in the high court and, if necessary, in the Supreme Court.
Currently, Lalu Yadav is in Birsa Munda Central Jail of Ranchi, as he was awarded a three-and-a-half year sentence on January 6 this year in a fodder scam relating to fraudulent withdrawal from Deoghar treasury.
Meanwhile, Lalu’s son and former Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav has alleged that his father has been framed on the behest of chief minister Nitish Kumar by the BJP-RSS brigade.