AMN /
RJD Chief Lalu Prasad was sentenced to 14 years in jail by a special CBI court in Ranchi in the fourth fodder scam case today. He was given two sentences of seven years each under various sections. Judge Shivpal Singh ordered that both the sentence will run consecutively.
The court also imposed a fine of 60 lakh rupees on Lalu Prasad.
The case relates to illegal withdrawal of three crore 76 lakh rupees from Dumka Treasury when Mr Prasad was the Chief Minister of undivided Bihar.
The court was pronouncing the quantum of punishment for all the 19 convicts in the case.
CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh awarded two sentences of seven years each to the former Bihar chief minister under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Acts, he said. Prabhat Kumar, Lalu Prasad’s counsel, told journalists that he will appeal in a higher court against the judgment.
The CBI court in Ranchi had convicted Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) President Lalu Prasad in the multi-billion fourth fodder case, but acquitted another former CM, Jagannath Mishra. The fodder scam case is related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 31.3 million (Rs 3.13 crore) from Dumka treasury in 1990s. Judge Shuvapal Singh delivered the judgment in the case involving fraudulent withdrawal of money between December 1995 and January 1996 from the Dumka treasury. The verdict, scheduled on March 15, was deferred four times.
The court had earlier postponed the judgement in view of Lalu Prasad’s counsel filing a petition under 319 CrPC asking that the then three officials of the Accountant General (in the 1990s) be made party to the case. Section 319 Cr PC is invoked when there is some strong and cogent evidence against the accused
Hours after RJD chief Lalu Prasad was sentenced to 14 years in jail, his son and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav today alleged a threat to his father’s life.
“I am sure there is a threat to Lalu ji’s life, looking at the conspiracy being planned by BJP,” said Yadav. He also promised to challenge the special CBI court order in the high court.
“We will decide further strategy on the basis of overall judgement in all four cases,” he said.
Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi, however, dismissed all allegations, and instead advised Lalu to “appeal in court” if he feared for his life.