Lalu convicted in second fodder scam case, Mishra acquitted

Shashank Shekhar

Ranchi ( Jharkhand) : A special CBI court at Ranchi, Jharkhand, presided by justice Shivpal Singh on December 23, 2017, convicted RJD chief and former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad, 69, and 15 others in fodder scam case RC 64 A/96 relating to fraudulent drawal of  Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar treasury in Jharkhand during 1991-94 while 6 others including former chief minister Jagganath Mishra, 80, were acquitted in the case. The court will pronounce the  quantum of punishment on January 3, 2018, in this case.

Twenty minutes after Lalu and 15 others were pronounced guilty, Ranchi police amidst tight security ferried them to Birsa Munda jail, Ranchi, though  obstructions were  made by RJD supporters by putting obstacles before moving vehicles and raising slogans against the BJP vehicle which was cleared  by alert cops.  Lalu, after his conviction, said that the truth will triumph in the end.

Soon after the punishment was pronounced at 3.10 pm, pain, sadness and anguish were visible on the faces of hundreds of  RJD leaders and supporters  who were waiting for the judgment  since morning hours. They included senior RJD leaders Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, a former union minister, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, MLA, former union minister Kanti Singh, and  Jharkhand RJD chief Annupurna Devi. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that  people are not able to digest as to how Lalu can be held guilty while Jagannath Mishra and five others were acquitted in the same case.

But, Union Minister J P Nadda said that Lalu was still politicising the issue instead of accepting the verdict. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, ” Law will catch up with you if you indulge in corruption.”

It is the second fodder scam case in which Lalu Prasad has been convicted. Earlier, Lalu and Mishra were convicted in a case in 2013 by the CBI court after which Lalu was disqualified from the Lok Sabha and barred from contesting polls.

It may be mentioned here that four more cases of fodder scam of Chaibasa (2 cases) , Doranda (Ranchi) and Dumka are still being heard  in CBI court whose next dates are fixed in  January and March 2018.

In case number RC 64/96 in which Lalu has been convicted, he had presented 22 witnesses to prove himself innocent. The hearing in the case concluded on December 13.

Lalu has been given special ward on the first floor of Birsa Munda jail. According to senior SSP Ranchi Kuldip Dwivedi, three  companies of cops have  been posted in city and adjoining area to maintain law and order.

Tejaswi Yadav, Lalu’s younger son and Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly, who was also present on the court campus, alleged that  BJP has conspired to put his father behind the bars but he will not bow down to pressure and move the higher court.

A charge sheet was filed against 38 persons in the case on October 27, 1997. Eleven of them died and three turned approvers while two other accused confessed and were convicted in 2006-07, said a CBI official said. Apart from Lalu, those convicted by the CBI court include former MLA Jagdish Sharma, Tripurari Mohan Prasad and his two bothers, Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Krishna Prasad, and Jyoti Jha and former IAS officers Beck Julius, Phoolchand Singh and Mahesh Prasad.

The six accused acquitted by the court also include former minister Vidya Sagar Nishad, former Indian Revenue Service officer A C Choudhary, and former MLA Dhruv Bhagat.