Sentencing on February 21
Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted by the special CBI court of Sudhanshu Kumar Shashi of Ranchi in a fodder scam case RC 47 A/96 about illegal withdrawal of Rs 139.35 Crores from Doranda treasury of Ranchi during 1995-96.
This is the fifth fodder scam case totalling Rs 950 crore, in which the court found him guilty.
Out of 99 accused the court held 75 guilty and acquitted the rest of them. Lalu Prasad Yadav, RK Rana, and Dhruva Bhagat are among the politicians of Bihar, who the court found guilty. In the case of Lalu Prasad Yadav, the court will announce the quantum of punishment on February 21. Including Lalu Prasad, all accused held guilty were taken into custody.
Lalu Prasad appealed to the court that owing to his age and health issues he should be shifted to RIMS for treatment. But the judge rejected his appeal and said that the same should be decided by the authorities of the Birsa Munda Jail. Later in the evening jail authority took him to RIMS where he was shifted at paying ward A 11.
A medical board was constituted to monitor the health of Lalu Prasad. Dr. Vidyapati, Dr. CB Sharma, Dr. DK Jha, Dr. PK Bhattacharya, cardiologist Dr. Prakash, urologist Dr. Arshad Jamal, and nephrologist Dr. Pragya Ghosh Pant are part of the medical board.
Earlier in the morning, Lalu Prasad reached the court premises at 11.30 AM and entered the courtroom. The court premise was jam-packed with RJD supporters and media persons.
The court acquitted Rajendra Pandey, Dinanath Sahay, Ramsevak Sahu, Ainul Haque, Sanaul Haque, Md Ekram, Md Hussain, Shero Nisha, Kalashmani Kashyap, Baldeo Sahu, Ranjeet Sinha, Anil Kumar Sinha (supplier), Nirmala Prasad, Kumari Anita Prasad, Ramavatar Sharma, Chanchala Singh, Ramashankar Sinha, Basant Sulin Srivastava, Harish Khanna, Madhu, and Dr. Kameshwar Prasad.
“To some convicts, the court pronounced the quantum of punishment today whereas, for the rest of the convicts, the court has fixed February 18 and February 21 to hear and pronounce the quantum of punishment,” a lawyer said.
During the trial, the CBI submitted a list of 34 charges and successfully proved that he patronized the scam.
The CBI said that he was CM of Bihar from the year 1990 to 1997 and he was also holding the finance portfolio and he allowed the scam to happen. The CBI said that he was aware of the scam since the deputy AG had reported to the government in April 1990 that there were several anomalies namely fraudulent transportation of cattle in vehicles, which were later found to be cars, scooters, and auto rickshaws.
But he along with Raja Ram dismissed that report as a clerical mistake in the entry. The CBI said that in March 1991 two MLCs of Bihar assembly Kripa Nath Pathak and Satudhan Prasad Singh had brought the matter of scam to the notice of the government. But no action was taken and to prevent any police probe referred the case to the Public Accounts Committee of the assembly.
The CBI said that MLAs Sushil Kumar Modi (BJP) and Nilambar Choudhary (Congress) too had raised the issue of fraudulent withdrawal.
The CBI said that he protected the scam accused and shielded Raja Ram and other accused. He did not allow an inquiry against them by Bihar Vigilance Bureau which had lodged an FIR in August 1990 RK Das, Raja Ram, and others.
The CBI said that Lalu Prasad can’t feign ignorance about the scam since he, in June 1994 had caught six forged allotment letters, which were issued by the regional director of AHD of Dumka.
The CBI said that Lalu Prasad gave protection to corrupt officials like BN Sharma whose transfer order he had canceled in June 1993 despite knowing that he was withdrawing huge money through fake bills and vouchers. Further, he gave a job extension to two main accused RK Das and Shyam Bihari Sinha on the recommendation of Jagannath Mishra who was the then leader of the opposition.