Ranchi: RJD chief Lalu Prasad was convicted in a fodder scam case on Monday five days after his party clocked impressive wins in Araria Lok Sabha and Jehanabad Vidhan Sabha by-elections.
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 minister of animal husbandry 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 already 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. The judge said he would like to hear arguments concerning at least six convicts each day and then declare the quantum of punishment.
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.
Other senior RJD leaders, like national spokesperson Ma-noj Jha and former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Sin-gh, issued a statement. "This is not the first and the last court. We will appeal against the conviction at higher courts. Our leader was implicated without evidence. Those who are rejoicing today should wait...our leader will come clean. Lalu is an indomitable political phenomenon of the country. Lalu is the present and future of Bihar. Nitish Kumar is the past of Bihar," Jha told The Telegraph.
Raghuvansh Prasad accused the BJP and JDU of hatching a conspiracy against Lalu.
"Whenever judgments in fodder scam cases were delivered, BJP and JDU leaders predict his conviction. However, this court has exposed the people and officials whose involvement in corruption was concealed by the CBI," he said.
