Ranchi: RJD chief Lalu Prasad was convicted in another fodder scam case on Monday five days after his party clocked impressive wins in Araria Lok Sabha and Jehanabad Vidhan Sabha byelections.
The special CBI court of Shivpal Singh convicted Lalu and 18 others, but acquitted 12, including former chief minister Jagannath Mishra, in fodder case RC 38A/96 pertaining to fraudulent withdrawals of Rs 3.13 crore from Dumka treasury between December 1995 and January 1996.
Former finance commissioner Phoolchand Singh, former regional director of animal husbandry department O.P. Diwakar, nine officials and seven transporters and suppliers were also convicted.
Apart from Mishra, among those who were acquitted were former MP Jagdish Sharma, former MLAs R.K. Rana and Dhruv Bhagat (he was also PAC chairman) and former animal husbandry minister Vidya Sagar Nishad.
Four retired government officials, IAS officers M.C. Subarno (divisional commissioner), Mahesh Prasad (animal husbandry secretary), Beck Julius and former IT commissioner A.C. Choudhary, were also acquitted.
Lalu, who was not present when the court delivered the judgment, arrived half-hour later. He has been unwell and is being treated at RIMS under judicial custody. This was Lalu's fourth conviction in a fodder scam case. He is serving time for two other fodder scam cases, RC 64A/96 (Deoghar treasury) and RC 68A/96 (Chaibasa). In 2013, he was convicted in fodder case RC 20A/96 (Chaibasa).
The judge told Lalu, who was represented by lawyer Prabhat Kumar, that he would announce the quantum of sentence later. He also enquired about Lalu's health and asked him to consult AIIMS for better treatment.
The special CBI court will hear arguments on the quantum of sentence for three consecutive days from March 21.
Clearly under the weather, Lalu was not his usual self on Monday. Neither did he plead leniency nor did he give a political statement outside the court premises. " Jo ho raha hai wah aap dekh hi rahe hain... aage jo hoga so wo bhi dekhengen. (You can all see what is happening)," he said, sounding exhausted.
Reacting to Lalu's fourth conviction in the fodder scam by the CBI court, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi ridiculed the statements of some RJD leaders that Lalu had been framed by the BJP.
