Dumka treasury case: Lalu Prasad Yadav sentenced to 7 years in jail

Lalu Prasad Yadav has been given 7 years jail in Dumka treasury case on Saturday. Lalu has been already been convicted in three cases and is currently in jail. He has also been slapped with a fine of Rs 60 lakhs. 

Former Bihar CM and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and 18 others were convicted in a fourth fodder scam case by a CBI court in Ranchi on Monday. 

Special CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh acquitted 12 others, including former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra, in the case that pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of over Rs three crore from Dumka district treasury. The fodder scam is a collective term for a set of 64 cases that relate to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 1,000 crore in public funds in undivided Bihar, in the name of cattle fodder, besides medicine and equipment spends. 

The charges against the convicted persons are 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 409 (misappropriation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged documents as genuine), 477A/IPC and section 13 (2) with 13 (i) c &d of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (misuse of official position for pecuniary advantage by the public servant and others).

Lalu, 69, has been in Ranchi’s Hotwar jail since December 23 after three previous convictions in the scam unearthed in 1996. He has been sentenced to 13.5 years in jail. Lalu is accused in two more pending cases of swindling money through fake bills and vouchers.  Lalu was hospitalised on Saturday and was not present when the judge pronounced the verdict on Monday.  RJD vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh termed the cases BJP’s conspiracy.

Earlier, the RJD supremo was convicted on September 30, 2013 in the RC 20A/96 case of Chaibasa pertaining to illegal withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore in the 1990s. He got five years prison term in the case following which he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha and barred from contesting elections for six years after completion of jail term. There were a total of 47 accused in the fourth fodder scam. Fourteen of them had died during the course of trial while two turned approvers".

In the second case, Prasad was convicted in the RC64A/96 in connection with fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar Treasury in the 1990s. He was awarded 3.5 years sentence in the case on December 23 last year. In another Chaibasa case, RC 68A/96 pertaining to Rs 37.62 crore Prasad got five years prison term on January 24 this year. On the other hand, Jagannath Mishra was acquitted in two fodder cases while being convicted in two cases. The fifth case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 139 crore from the Doranda treasury in Ranchi is pending with the court.