Ranchi, Aug. 12: The Ranchi special CBI court (AHD) of A.K. Mishra today dismissed former Bihar chief minister and fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad’s petition to scrap the trial against him in an animal husbandry case.

The case, RC68A/96, pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 33.61 crore from Chaibasa treasury. This was the second time that such a petition by Lalu was rejected. In July, special CBI court of A.K. Rai had rejected a similar petition in another fodder scam case (RC 64 A/96).

Mishra’s court did not accept Lalu’s contention that he should not be tried in the case as he had already been convicted for the same offence in the case, RC 20A/96, on September 30 last year. He was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison in that case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from the Chaibasa treasury.

Sources said Lalu had filed a petition under Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and sub-section (1) of Section 220 according to which a person once convicted or acquitted cannot be tried for the same offence.

Lalu is facing court trials in five fodder scam cases, namely, RC64A/96 (Deoghar), RC 38A/96 (Dumka), RC47A/96 (Doranda) and RC 68A/96 (Chaibasa) and one in Patna.