Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], February 21 (ANI): A CBI court on Monday sentenced former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years imprisonment in the fifth fodder scam case and imposed a fine of Rs 60 lakhs on him. Yadav was declared guilty on February 15. Of the 99 accused in the case, 24 were acquitted, while three-year jail terms were pronounced for the 46 accused. The fate of the remaining accused will be decided on Monday. Yadav has been found guilty of illegal withdrawals of Rs 139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury by a special CBI court in Jharkhand‘s Ranchi.
The hearing for the pronouncement of quantum of punishment for Yadav has been scheduled for today.
Yadav has been sentenced in four fodder scam cases. This case (RC 47A/97) was the fifth and the biggest in which Rs 139.35 crore was illegally withdrawn. The Rs 950-crore fodder scam relates to the fraudulent withdrawal of public funds from government treasuries in various districts of undivided Bihar.
Of the original 170 accused in the matter, 55 have died, seven have become government witnesses, two have accepted the charges against them and six are absconding. The court gave the verdict on February 15 against the remaining 99 accused, including Yadav. The scam came into light after a raid conducted by Deputy Commissioner of Chaibasa Amit Khare at the Animal Husbandry Department in January 1996. The CBI was roped in by the Patna High Court in March 1996 after increasing pressure to investigate the case. The CBI registered an FIR in the case at a time when Bihar was still undivided.
In June 1997, Yadav was named an accused in the case for the first time in the chargesheet filed by the CBI.
Following the charge sheet and mounting pressure from the Opposition, Yadav resigned as the Chief Minister after which Rabri Devi succeeded him in July 1997 even while he continued to operate behind the curtains in Bihar. Due to the bifurcation of Bihar and the formation of Jharkhand, the case was transferred to the Jharkhand High Court in October 2001. Special CBI court began trial in the fodder scam case in February 2002.
Yadav’s first conviction came in September 2013 in the Chaibasa treasury case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.70 crore. He was handed over five years in prison leading to his disqualification from the Lok Sabha membership. He was later granted bail by the Supreme Court. The RJD supremo’s trouble renewed again in 2017 when a special CBI court in December 2017 convicted him in the second scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar treasury.
He was sentenced to 3.5 years of jail term but was granted bail in July last year after completing half of the sentence. The former Chief Minister’s third conviction came in January 2018 in the Chaibasa treasury case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 33.13 crore. He was awarded five years of imprisonment in this case.
Two months later, the special CBI court in March 2018, had held him guilty of conspiracy and corruption charges in the scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.76 crore from Dumka treasury from December 1995, to January 1996. It had handed him 14 years in prison and slapped a fine of Rs 60 lakh on him. (ANI)
CBI targeted Lalu as he refused to shake hands with BJP, says Tejashwi
Patna (Bihar) [India], February 21 (ANI): After a CBI court on Monday sentenced former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years imprisonment in the fifth fodder scam case and imposed a fine of Rs 60 lakhs on him, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Tejashwi Yadav claimed that his father was targetted because he refused to shake hands with the BJP.
“If Lalu Ji would have shaken hands with the BJP then he would have been called Raja Harishchandra. But he is fighting against RSS- BJP. Hence, he is facing imprisonment. We’ll not get scared with this”, said Tejashwi Yadav on conviction of his father and the former Chief Minister of Bihar. He further stated, “Lalu ji has said that he would never bow down to the BJP.”
Further speaking on the verdict, Tejashwi Yadav said that the CBI has forgotten other scamsters like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi while they were after Lalu Prasad Yadav’s case. “Apart from the fodder scam, it seems like no other scam has happened in the country. In Bihar, almost 80 scams happened but where is the CBI, ED, NIA? The CBI has forgotten Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi”, said the RJD leader.
He also said that he would appeal in the High Court. “The CBI court has sentenced Lalu ji in the case. We will now go to the High Court. There are still High Court and Supreme Court. I believe that the verdict in the higher courts will be in favor of Lalu Ji.” “People of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are watching the way the BJP is treating Lalu Ji. The people of UP will give an answer in the elections,” he added.
People of Bihar never sympathized with a ‘Ghotalebaaz’, says Bihar BJP president on Lalu Prasad
New Delhi [India], February 21 (ANI): Bihar BJP president and Lok Sabha MP Sanjay Jaiswal on Monday lauded the decision of a CBI court to sentence RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years of imprisonment in a fodder scam case and said the people of Bihar never liked or sympathized with a “Ghotalebaaz” (scamster).
“There is no sympathy. People of Bihar have never liked ‘Ghotalebaaz’ and that is the reason why Lalu Yadav lost Lok Sabha elections even after being such a popular leader,” Jaiswal told ANI on being asked about the sympathy RJD might be getting after the announcement of sentence against Lalu Yadav.
“His family members are continuously losing elections in the Lok Sabha and in future, his party will be finished,” he added.
Further slamming the former chief minister of Bihar, the BJP leader urged the people of the state not to elect a person whose ideology is ‘if others can do corruption, then why not me.’ “Voting for these types of people will further push Bihar into a pit,” he added.
Calling the corruption done by the former union minister ‘so blatant,’ even his alliance partner was forced to prosecute him. “The corruption was done so blatantly that even though his party was part of the Congress alliance at the center, the government was forced to prosecute him. He was sent to jail during the time of Congress government only,” said Jaiswal, three times Lok Sabha MP from Bettiah.
“When a person who started from fourth-grade animal husbandry quarters, ends up owning four farmhouses in Delhi, then that person is bound to do it illegally. Today it is not possible for someone who is corrupt to get away easily. The way Lalu Yadav increased his property, it was obvious that he is indulging in corruption,” he added.
He had committed fraud in those times when no one could even imagine committing such a big scam of Rs 139 crore from the treasury. It is obvious that the same fate has happened.” A CBI court in Jharkhand”s Ranchi sentenced former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years imprisonment in the fifth fodder scam case and imposed a fine of Rs 60 lakh on him. (ANI)
When Lalu Prasad was chargesheeted, given first sentence, BJP was not in power at Centre: Sushil Modi
Patna (Bihar) [India], February 21 (ANI): Reacting to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) claiming that former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav was trapped by the BJP in the fodder scam case, former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Monday said that the charges against the BJP are baseless as when the RJD leader’s chargesheet was filed and his first sentence was given, BJP was not in power at the Centre. Sushil Modi said that there is no such thing as a surprise in the punishment given to Lalu Yadav; it was bound to happen.
Sushil Kumar Modi tweeted, “There is no such thing as a surprise in the punishment given to Lalu Yadav, it was bound to happen. When the chargesheet was filed against Lalu Prasad Yadav for the first time, the government formed with his support at the Center headed by the Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. When Lalu Yadav was convicted for the first time, the Manmohan Singh government was at the Center. Whereas the allegations accuse us (BJP) that BJP trapped him into it.”
The deputy CM said that it is surprising that the people who filed the case against Lalu Prasad Yadav are with him now. Sushil Modi said, “Shivanand Tiwary, Prem Chand Mishra, Brishan Patel were amongst those who filed case against Lalu Prasad Yadav and they are now with him. One of them is his closest advisor as well.” (ANI)
