Former Bihar Chief Minister and pioneer of the infamous fodder scam that duped the exchequer of whooping Rs 9.4 billion – Lalu Prasad Yadav has set sail for his final prison sojourn. On Tuesday, a special CBI court in Jharkhand’s Ranchi found Lalu guilty of illegal withdrawals of Rs 139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury – the biggest fraud out of all the treasury withdrawals.
Reportedly, as many as 75 of the accused, including Prasad, were convicted, while 24 were acquitted. The quantum of Lalu’s punishment will be announced next week on Monday (February 21).
Fodder scam: RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav convicted of fraudulent withdrawal from Doranda treasury by a CBI Special Court in Ranchi pic.twitter.com/J9AvvhmOjk
— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2022
Special CBI judge SK Shashi was hearing the case and delivered the judgment. The verdict delivered found Lalu Prasad Yadav, former MP Jagdish Sharma, PAC Chairman Dhruv Bhagat, Animal Husbandry secy. Beck Julius and Assistant Director Dr KM Prasad as the main accused.
The biggest scam out of all the treasuries
The Doranda treasury involved the highest number of 170 people accused including the RJD chief. CBI’s counsel in the court hearing had remarked, “The CBI had filed a charge sheet in 2005. A total of 170 persons were named as accused in this case, but 55 of them died during the course of the trial. Eight accused turned approvers, two pleaded guilty while six of them are absconding. In the end, 99 accused are facing trial in this case,”.
Lalu Yadav has already been found guilty in four other matters related to the fodder scam – the fraudulent withdrawals of Rs 37.7 crore and Rs 33.13 crore from the Chaibasa treasury, Rs 89.27 crore from the Deoghar treasury, and Rs 3.76 crore from the Dumka treasury.
An era has come to draw — a scam ridden era
When the fodder scam or ‘Chara Ghotala’ as it is colloquially called was first exposed in 1996, not many believed that Lalu will ever get behind the bars. The RJD leader was at the peak of his powers and Bihar was the epitome of ‘Jungle Raj’.
However, the judiciary somehow persisted and as reported by TFI, on 30 September 2013, Lalu along with 44 others, including politicians and IAS officers, was convicted by the CBI court.
A sentence of 5 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 25 lakh was given to him for his involvement in the scam. However, since then, Lalu, using his health condition has been able to stay in the luxurious bungalows situated in the RIMS hospital compounds.
Lalu’s team of attorneys has already started planning his escape route. RJD chief’s lawyer, Prabhat Kumar, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI, “We have given an application seeking instruction to shift him (Lalu Yadav) to RIMS (Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi) on grounds of poor health. Court will hear application at 2 pm,”
Lalu through his jungle raj and scams of astronomical proportions managed to push Bihar back in the development race by few decades at least. The result of his disastrous tenure is still evident with his protégé Nitish Kumar not faring any better.
Read More: How Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar threw Bihar six decades back in their 3 decades of misrule
Lalu has been given 14 years of judicial imprisonment up until now. He has served over 3.5 years in judicial custody as part of his sentencing. If the Monday’s sentencing is above 3-years, Lalu will have to immediately return to the prison.