RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav gets 3.5 years of imprisonment in #foddercase

Ranchi, January 6: A decade-long story of corruption is on its conclusion now as RJD supremo and former Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav is all set to go in prison for 3.5 years and will also pay Rs 5 lakh fine in a decade-long fodder case.

 

Notably, a special CBI court in Ranchi has sentenced 3.5 years of punishment along with the fine of Rs 5 lakh for Lalu Prasad and other convicts including Phool Chand, Mahesh Prasad, Bake Julious, Sunil Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Sudhir Kumar and Raja Ram in a fodder case. While Jagdish Sharma and other four convicts get 7 years in imprisonment along with a fine of Rs. 10 lakh. The court also said if Lalu fails to furnish the fine, his jail term would extend by six months. 

Special CBI Judge Shivpal Singh who announced the quantum of punishment to all the convicts also said that none of the convicts can take bail immediately and to take bail convicts will have to go High Court. All the accused were given punishment through video conferencing. During the hearing, Judge Shivpal Singh said, "An open jail is best for these people, as they also have experience of cow farming.”

Meanwhile, RJD leader Rabri Devi called an emergency meeting of the party before Lalu Prasad Yadav's sentencing in fodder scam case. Lalu’s son and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said, “The judiciary performed its duty and we will go to the High Court after studying the sentence and apply for a bail.”

Earlier, on Friday Lalu Prasad Yadav's advocate filed a plea before Ranchi Special CBI Court demanding minimum punishment to the RJD Chief on health grounds. However, the Special CBI court had postponed the sentencing twice this week. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and 15 others were convicted in a fodder scam case.

Lalu Prasad was convicted by the special CBI court in the Deoghar leg of the fodder scam case on December 23 last year. Among all the accused guilty seven were acquitted. Another former Bihar Chief Minister who was another heavyweight politician accused in the case has been acquitted along with 6 others. On the other hand, 15 people including Lalu Prasad Yadav was found guilty.

The Fodder Scam is a corruption scandal that involved the embezzlement of a huge amount of money from the government treasury of Bihar. Among those implicated in the theft and arrested were then Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, as well as former Chief Minister, Jagannath Mishra.The scandal led to the end of Lalu's reign as Chief Minister.

He is an accused in four other cases in the fodder scam. He has already been convicted in another fodder scam case that cost him his Lok Sabha seat and barred him from contesting elections.

Lalu Yadav and his family get drowned in more trouble as on the same day of Fodder scam verdict, his daughter Misa Bharati faces a major setback in money laundering case. The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday filed a charge sheet against the Rashtriya Janata Dal MP. Her husband was also named on the charge sheet.