Fodder scam: CBI court convicts Lalu in ₹139Cr Doranda treasury case

A special CBI court convicted Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the ₹139.5 crore Doranda treasury embezzlement case on Tuesday (February 15).

“The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on February 18,” a CBI counsel said.

The court had completed hearing arguments in the case and reserved its verdict on January 29. Yadav had earlier been sentenced to 14 years in jail in four other fodder scam cases.

“Lalu Prasad has been convicted. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on February 18,” the CBI counsel said.

The special CBI court’s Judge SK Shashi had completed the hearing against 99 accused including Prasad, which was underway since February last year.

Arguments on behalf of the last accused, Dr Shailendra Kumar, were completed on January 29. All the accused had been ordered to be physically present in the court on the day of the verdict.

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Of the original 170 accused in the case, 55 have died, seven have become government witnesses, two have accepted the charges against them and six are absconding.

Apart from Yadav, former MP Jagdish Sharma, the then Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Dhruv Bhagat, former Animal Husbandry secretary Beck Julius and former Animal Husbandry assistant director Dr KM Prasad are the main accused.

The ₹950-crore scam relates to fraudulent withdrawal of public funds from government treasuries in various districts of undivided Bihar.

The RJD supremo, who has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and slapped with a total fine of ₹60 lakh, has secured bail in the four cases related to Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries.

The fodder scam came to light in January 1996, after a raid at the Animal Husbandry Department.

The CBI named Yadav as an accused in June 1997. The agency framed charges against him  and former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra.

In September 2013, the trial court convicted Yadav, Mishra, and 45 others in one of the cases related to the fodder scam and Yadav was imprisoned in Ranchi jail.

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In December 2013, Supreme Court granted bail to Yadav in the case while in December 2017, the CBI court found him and 15 others guilty and sent them to Birsa Munda prison.

The Jharkhand High Court had granted bail to Yadav in April 2021.

(With inputs from agencies)