Fifth fodder scam case: Lalu Prasad Yadav sentenced to 5 years in prison

File image: Lalu Prasad Yadav

A special CBI court in Ranchi on February 21 sentenced RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years in jail and slapped a fine of Rs 60 lakh on him in the 1996 fodder scam case.

The CBI Special Court in Ranchi had convicted Yadav in the Rs 139.35-crore Doranda treasury embezzlement case on February 15.

"Lalu Prasad has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment while a penalty of Rs 60 lakh has also been imposed on him. Apart from Prasad, five years imprisonment each was announced by the Court for five convicts, four years each for 32 convicts and three years each for three convicts," CBI counsel BMP Singh told PTI.

"Fine imposed on convicts ranges from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 crore," he said adding that the highest amount of Rs 2 crore penalty was imposed on supplier Tripurari Mohan Prasad.

Judge SK Shashi had completed the hearing against 99 accused including Prasad, which was underway since February last year. Arguments on behalf of the last accused, Dr Shailendra Kumar, were completed on January 29.

The Rs 950-crore scam relates to fraudulent withdrawal of public funds from government treasuries in various districts of undivided Bihar.

The RJD supremo, who has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and slapped with a total fine of Rs 60 lakh, has secured bail in the four cases related to Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries.

The fodder scam came to light in January 1996 after a raid at the Animal Husbandry Department. The CBI named Yadav as an accused in June 1997.

The agency framed charges against Yadav and former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra. In September 2013, the trial court convicted Yadav, Mishra and 45 more in one of the cases related to the fodder scam and Yadav was sent to Ranchi jail.

In December 2013, the Supreme Court granted bail to Yadav but, in December 2017, the CBI court found him and 15 more guilty and sent them to Birsa Munda prison. The Jharkhand High Court granted bail to Yadav in April 2021

(With PTI Inputs)