Lalu sentenced to 42 months imprisonment in Fodder scan case

Shashank Shekhar

Ranchi ( Jharkhand) : A Special CBI court at Ranchi on January 6, 2018, sentenced RJD chief and former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad to three-and-a-half-years of imprisonment in a Fodder scam case bearing number RC -64 A/96 related to fraudulent drawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar, Jharkhand, Treasury durin 1991-94. The court also slapped a fine of  Rs 10 lakh on Lalu.

Former Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Bihar legsilature Jagdish Sharma, also a former MP, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment besides being slapped a fine of Rs 10 lak by the court. Three former IAS officers : Phool Chand Singh, Mahesh Prasad and Beck Julius, were sentenced to three-and-a-half-years’ imprisonment  besides being slapped a fine of Rs 5 lakg each by the court.

The quantum of punishment was pronounced by Special CBI court judge Shiv Pal Singh, who had convicted the RJD chief and 15 others including three former IAS officers and former MP Jagdish Sharma on December 23, 2017. The others convicts including Sushil Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Sudhir Kumar and Raja Ram, were also also sentenced to thre-and-a-half year imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 5 lakh each by the Special CBI Court. All the convicts appeared before the court via video conference.

The RJD supporters had thronged the court campus in large numbers on January 6 in anticipation of sentencing of Lalu and other convicts. There was tight security arrangement on the court campus and outside.

Lalu’s younger son and Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejaswi Yadav said that they will move the High Court against CBI court order after studying the verdict and apply for bail. JD(U) national General Secretary K C Tyagi, MP, while welcoming the court order said that it was end of a chapter. Tyagi said that it would prove to be a historic decision in Bihar politics.