RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav sentenced to seven years imprisonment in fourth fodder scam case

A special CBI court in Ranchi sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to seven years in jail in the Dumka treasury case on Saturday.

Lalu's lawyer Prabhat Kumar told ANI that the sentences of seven years each have been given under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act, and will run concurrently. He also added that the total fine slapped on the RJD leader amounted to Rs 60 lakh.

This is the fourth fodder scam case in which Lalu has been convicted. The court had held him guilty while acquitting co-accused Jagannath Mishra on 19 March. Nineteen others were also convicted in the case, which involved the withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury.

File image of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav. PTI

Mishra and Lalu were accused of theft along with 29 others, including veterinary doctors as well as IAS officials in the multi-crore case. Apart from Lalu, 19 others, including Manoranjan Prasad, MC Vedi, OP Diwakar and veterinary officers Nand Kishore Prasad and Dr Vimal Kant Das were found guilty in the case.

As Firstpost had reported earlier, Lalu had already been convicted in three fodder scam cases while Mishra has been convicted in two. The first conviction came in 2013 when he was sentenced to five years in jail.

Lalu has been lodged in the Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi since 23 December, 2017, when he was found guilty in the second fodder scam case involving the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar treasury 21 years ago.

A special CBI court had sentenced Lalu to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined him Rs 10 lakh in the second fodder scam case on 6 January.

On 24 January, a special CBI court sentenced Lalu and Mishra to five years in jail in a third case in the fodder scam, related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.62 crore from the Chaibasa treasury.

With inputs from PTI