(Image source from: nayaindia.com)

A Special CBI Court today convicted RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Rs 139.35 crores fodder scam. The quantum of punishment will be announced on February 18th told the special CBI Court. Judge SK Shashi completed hearing 99 accused including Lalu Prasad Yadav and the case got delayed from February 2021. Arguments on behalf of the last accused Dr Shaileendra Kumar were completed last month. All the accused are asked to be present physically today. Lalu Prasad Yadav along with former MP Jagdish Sharma and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Dhruv Bhagat, Animal Husbandry Assistant Director Dr K M Prasad and Animal Husbandry Secretary Beck Julius are the main accused.

55 among the 170 accused died and seven of them are government witnesses. Two of them also accepted the charges and six of them are absconding. BJP leader Sushil Kumar said that Lalu Prasad Yadav is unfit for politics. Lalu Prasad Yadav was sentenced for jail for 14 years and fined Rs 60 lakhs in various cases. He is out on bail. CBI has been investigating the multi-crore scam case and 64 cases are registered in total. Some of them are transferred to Jharkhand after the bifurcation of Bihar.

Lalu Prasad Yadav and team have been involved in Rs 139.5 core scam that took place between 1990-91 and 1995-96. The amount was withdrawn on the name of buying fodder, equipment and medicines for the Animal Husbandary Department (AHD). The first case was registered on February 17th, 1996 and the Patna High Court ordered a CBI investigation on March 11th, 1996.

By Siva Kumar