In a major relief given to the former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, Jharkhand High Court on Monday quashed four pending fodder scam cases against him also involving RJD Chief lalu Prasad and several others on the ground that a person convicted in one case could not be tried in similar cases based on same witnesses and evidences. Mishra along with lalu, already sentenced in the fodder scam case RC20A/96, are currently on bail.
“The court allowing the petition filed by Jagannath Mishra quashed four other fodder scam cases against him related to illegal transaction related to Doranda, Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries,” said Mishra’s advocate Rakesh Jha. Now, there will be no trial against Mishra as he has already been sentenced in RC20A/96, added the advocate.
The court of Justice RR Prasad, which had reserved the judgment after the conclusion of hearing last month, pronounced the verdict nearly 10 months after Mishra was convicted by a lower court in RC20A/96, one of the five fodder cases lodged against him.
Mishra had filed a petition under Section 300 of CrPC seeking relief from the court against being charged for the same offences in different cases on the grounds that he had already been convicted earlier, said his advocate. Mishra was sentenced to four years’ rigorous imprisonment on October 3. According to Jha, the petition had been filed by under Section 300 of CrPC and Article 20 (2) of Constitution of India saying -- a person once convicted or acquitted cannot be tried for the same offence.
The verdict will have a positive impact on the pending cases against lalu Prasad, Jagdish Sharma and five IAS officers having similar allegations against them in all the four cases. “We will be filing a petition under Section 482 of CrPC on Tuesday seeking relief from the court on the same grounds on which pending cases against Mishra were quashed,” said Prasad’s advocate Prabhat Kumar.
A similar petition filed by Prasad along with former Rashtriya Janta Dal MP RK Rana and former Janta Dal (U) MP Jagdish Sharma convicted in the fodder scam case, was dismissed by a special CBI Court in Ranchi on July 1. The court of A.K. Rai had dismissed the petition seeking to quash fodder scam case RC64A/96 pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.96 lakh from Deogarh Treasury in 1990s. Jagannath Mishra however, directly moved the High Court seeking relief in other cases. On September 30 last year, lalu was convicted and sentenced to five years of prison in the fodder scam case RC 20A/96 pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa Treasury.