A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ranchi, Jharkhand has sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 60 lakh on him in the Rs 139.35 crore Doranda treasury scam, the fifth fodder scam case to emerge. The former Bihar Chief Minister, along with other accused, was pronounced guilty by the court on February 15 and was sentenced on Monday, February 21.
Lalu, 75, appeared in the court virtually. He is in judicial custody and is admitted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) due to his poor health conditions. Besides him, the court had convicted 74 others, including former MP Jagadish Sharma and Public Accounts Committee president Dhruv Bhagat in the case, while 24 were acquitted for want of evidence.
Earlier, the former Bihar chief minister was found guilty in four cases related to the Rs 950 crore fodder scam, and is serving a sentence of 27.5 years of imprisonment. In the fifth case related to the scam, a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged in the Doranda police station in 1996, and the later the CBI took over the case for investigation.
Initially, in case number RC 47 A/96, a total of 170 were accused of corruption, of which 55 have died, seven became witnesses, two confessed to the crime and six are still absconding.
During the hearing of the case in the CBI special court, 575 people testified on behalf of prosecution, while 35 from the defendants. The probe agency produced 15 documents in the case.
Crores of rupees were illegally withdrawn in the name of transporting animals including cows and sheep, and arranging fodder for them in Bihar's Animal Husbandry department from 1990 to 1996. The documents submitted by the department regarding the transportation were found to be fake over the course of investigation, the CBI said.
The CBI produced documents in the court, claiming that then Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav knew about the corruption. Lalu also held the portfolio of the Finance Ministry at the time. Earlier, the former Chief Minister had been to prison six times, but was granted bail by the High Court each time.