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Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is burdened with heavy jail terms, suffered yet another jolt on Saturday with the court awarding him 14 years of imprisonment in the fourth fodder scam case. Till now, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief has been convicted in four out of the six fodder scam cases against him as judgement in two matters is still not out.
Prasad, who has been serving prison term in Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi since December 23 last year, is currently undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) due to chest pain and discomfort.
Here is a list of fodder scam cases where Lalu Yadav suffered conviction:
# Lalu Yadav was sentenced to five-year rigorous imprisonment in the first case of fodder scam. The sentence immediately disqualified him from Parliament and barred him from elections for 11 years.
The court charged him with embezzlement of Rs 47 lakh from the treasuries at Banka and Bhagalpur districts, where alleged forged and fake bills were concocted by the Animal Husbandry Department in 1995-96 when he was the CM.
There were 45 convicts including former chief minister Jagannath Misra.
The former Development Commissioner, Phoolchand Singh; the former Science and Technology Secretary, Mahesh Prasad; the former AHD Secretary, Beck Juleus; the former Income Tax Commissioner, Adhip Chandra Choudhary; and the former Class I officers, Gouri Shankar Prasad, Brajnandan Sharma, K.M. Prasad (all of them with the Animal Husbandry Department) were among those found guilty.
The convicts were sentenced under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of a valuable security/will or authority to make or transfer any valuable security/receive any money), 468 (forgery for cheating), 477A (fraudulently destroying or defacing, or attempting to destroy or deface, or secreting a will) of the Indian Penal Code.
# In the second case of fodder scam, Lalu was convicted on December 23,2017. Lalu was found guilty along with 15 others by a special CBI court in Ranchi even as six others including former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra were acquitted in the case.
The court awarded him three and half years imprisonment with the fine of Rs 5 lakh. In 1996, the Patna High Court ordered an inquiry into the fodder scam cases and a charge sheet in the Deogarh treasury case was filed against 38 people on 27 October, 1997.
Eleven of them have died and three turned approvers while two other accused confessed and were convicted in 2006-07.
The accused faced charges under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The conviction was related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 84.5 lakh from Deogarh district treasury.
# In the third case of fodder scam, a special CBI court on January 25, 2018 in Ranchi found Lalu Yadav and Jagannath Mishra guilty in the case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.62 crore from the Chaibasa treasury in the 1990s.
The court sentenced Yadav to five year jail and imposed Rs 10 lakh as fine.
The special CBI court of judge S.S. Prasad convicted Mr. Lalu Prasad, Mr. Jagannath Mishra and 48 others in the RC 68 (A) / 96 fodder scam case which pertained to the fraudulent withdrawal of ?33.67 crore from Chaibasa (now in Jharkhand) district treasury during the period of 1992-93. Altogether 56 persons were facing trial in the case.
# In yet another fodder scam, Lalu Yadav was sentenced to 14 years in jail on Saturday and fined Rs 60 lakh by a special CBI court in connection with the fourth fodder scam case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from Dumka treasury in the early 1990s.
CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh awarded two separate sentences of seven years each to Prasad under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Acts.
Yadav will have to serve both the sentences consecutively. Lalu was sentenced to seven years in prison under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged), 477 (fraudulent cancellation, destruction of will or valuable security) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), and penalised Rs 30 lakh. He was awarded another seven-year jail term and slapped with a fine of Rs 30 lakh under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
For default or non-payment of fine, Lalu will have to spend one more year in prison for each of the two sets of sections. The court also pronounced the quantum of sentence for 18 other convicts in the case. Former regional director of Animal Husbandry department O P Diwarkar received the same punishment as Prasad.
Nine other Animal Husbandry department officials and former IAS officer Phoolchand Singh were sentenced to seven years in prison and fined Rs 30 lakh each for their involvement in the case. Seven fodder suppliers were given three-and-a-half years of prison terms and Rs 15 lakh penalty each. Prabhat Kumar, Lalu Prasad's counsel, told reporters he would appeal in a higher court against the judgment.
The court had on March 19 held the 69-year-old RJD chief guilty along with 18 others in connection with the Dumka treasury case.
