Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav by a special CBI court in the Rs 139.5 crore Doranda treasury embezzlement case. Yadav was convicted along with 74 others. The quantum of punishment would be pronounced on February 18, a CBI counsel said. The court had on January 29 completed hearing arguments in the case and reserved its verdict. Prasad had earlier been sentenced to 14 years in jail in four other fodder scam cases.
The Rs 950-crore scam relates to the fraudulent withdrawal of public funds from government treasuries in various districts of undivided Bihar.
Here’s what have been the developments so far:
1. The case is related to the fraudulent withdrawal of money from the treasury in 1995-1996. Following the order, the court has sentenced three years of punishment to 34 accused and imposed between the range of Rs 20,000 to Rs 2 lakhs. According to reports, the charge, in this case, was framed on September 26, 2005, and the prosecution evidence was closed on May 16, 2019. The statements of the accused persons were recorded on January 16, 2020.
2. The court of Special CBI 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, Shailendra Kumar, were completed on January 29. All the accused had been ordered to be physically present in the court on the day of the verdict.
3. Of the original 170 accused in the case, 55 have died, seven have become government witnesses, two have accepted the charges against them and six are absconding. Apart from Prasad, former MP Jagdish Sharma, the then Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Dhruv Bhagat, Animal Husbandry Secretary Beck Julius and Animal Husbandry Assistant Director KM Prasad were the main accused.
4. Lalu was convicted in the first fodder scam case in 2013 when he was sentenced to five years in jail. The case was related to the Chaibasa illegal withdrawal of cases. Following the conviction, he was barred from contesting the elections for 11 years. According to the rule of the court, convicts jailed for more than two years are disqualified for contesting for six years after completion of their sentence.
5. Lalu was sent behind bars three more times in 2017 and 2018. On December 23, 2017, Lalu was convicted by a special CBI court in the second fodder scam for illegally withdrawing more than Rs 80 lakh from the Deoghar treasury. He was sentenced to three-and-a half-year’ imprisonment. He was convicted in the third case on January 24, 2018, related to fraudulent withdrawals from the Chaibasa treasury worth Rs 33.67 crore and given a five-year jail term. In the fourth case, he illegally withdrew a sum of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury and was given seven-year imprisonment on March 4, 2018.
(-with agency inputs)
