LALU GETS 14YR JAIL TERM, ₹60L FINE IN FODDER SCAM CASE
RANCHI: A special CBI court on Saturday sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad to 14 years in prison for corruption.
The order has dealt a massive setback to the embattled politician who has been in a Ranchi jail since December after his conviction in two similar cases.
The latest conviction and sentencing relates to the fraudulent withdrawal of ₹3.76 crore from the treasury in Dumka from December 1995 to January 1996. Dumka is now a district of Jharkhand, which was carved out of Biharin2000. The court on Saturday awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment to Prasad under various sections of the IPC and a separate seven years of RI under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act. The court said the sentences would run consecutively, meaning that Prasad would have to serve a total of 14 years in prison in this case.
It also slapped a fine of ₹60 lakh on Prasad. Not paying the fine wild add two years of simple imprisonment to the former Bihar CM’s punishment. The corruption cases are part of the so-called fodder scam in Bihar, which involved the theft of state funds to the tune of Rs 950 crore, purported to be for the procurement of fodder and other supplies for livestock that didn’t exist.
“This is for the first time in the history of fodder scam cases that the court announced that punishments awarded under IPC and PC Act would run consecutively. In all other 50 fodder scam cases disposed of till date, the sentences given under the two laws run concurrently,” said Prasad’s advocate Prabhat Kumar.
Kumar added that the 14 years of RI awarded to Prasad was the longest prison sentence given to any of the nearly 1,500 convicts in fodder scam cases. “We will soon file appeal against the verdict in Jharkhand high court,” he said.
Bihar’s deputy chief minister Sushil Modi said the special CBI court’s verdict once again proved that no one was above the law. “None can escape the law. Justice may be delayed, but it can’t be denied forever,” he said.
Prasad’s conviction in the first case in 2013 led to his disqualification from the Lok Sabha membership. He has now been convicted in four fodder scam cases out of six registered against him in Jharkhand and Bihar.
His first conviction came on September 30, 2013, in the Chaibasa treasury case related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.70 crore. Handed a five-year prison term, Prasad came out of jail after 77 days on bail granted by the Supreme Court in December that year.
He faced trouble again in 2017 when a special CBI court on December 23 convicted him in the second scam related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar treasury. Prasad was sentenced three-anda-half years in jail in the case.
On January 24, another CBI court convicted and sentenced him to five years of imprisonment in the Chaibasa treasury case related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 33.13 crore.
Prasad, lodged in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Jail, was shifted to a Ranchi hospital about a week ago after he complained of feeling discomfort.
He is still facing trial in the last case in Jharkhand. This is the biggest fodder scam case and related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 139 crore from Ranchi’s Doranda treasury and involving 120 accused. In the Dumka case, the CBI special court judge Shivpal Singh convicted Prasad and 18 others on March 19. He acquitted 12 accused, including former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra.
On Saturday, the court also sentenced other convicts in the Dumka case. Former regional director of the animal husbandry department OP Diwarkar received the same punishment as Prasad. Nine other animal husbandry department officials and former Indian Administrative Service officer Phoolchand Singh were sentenced to seven years in prison and fined Rs 30 lakh each for their involvement in the case.
Advocate Vishnu Sharma said failure to pay the fine would entail an additional 18-month prison term for each of them.
Seven fodder suppliers were sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison and Rs 15 lakh penalty each.
ON JANUARY 24, ANOTHER CBI COURT CONVICTED AND SENTENCED HIM TO FIVE YEARS OF IMPRISONMENT IN THE CHAIBASA TREASURY CASE RELATED TO THE FRAUDULENT WITHDRAWAL
OF RS 33.13 CRORE.