Fodder scam: One more case pending against Lalu Prasad, RJD says it won’t be cowed down

The RJD’s allegations and explanations aside, the party knows its top leaders are still mired in one more court case even after party chief Lalu Prasad’s conviction in five fodder scam cases as of February this year when a special CBI court convicted the former Bihar chief minister in the Rs 139 crore Doranda treasury embezzlement case.

Lalu Prasad is currently out on bail, mainly on grounds of the RJD chief having undergone half his sentence in all five cases. One more case is pending before the CBI court in Patna pertaining to the illegal withdrawal of money from the Banka-Bhagalpur treasury.

The RJD chief was convicted in the first fodder scam case in 2013 and awarded five years in jail in connection with the illegal withdrawal of funds worth Rs 37.7 crore from the Chaibasa treasury. The conviction also barred him from contesting elections for 11 years in line with a Supreme Court order which disqualifies convicts jailed for more than two years from contesting for six years after completion of their sentence.

Later, he got bail in the case. Lalu was convicted by a special CBI court in the second case on December 23, 2017 for the illegal withdrawal of more than Rs 80 lakh from the Deoghar treasury. He was awarded three and half years’ imprisonment in this case. He was convicted in the third case on January 24, 2018 over fraudulent withdrawals of Rs 33.67 crore from the Chaibasa treasury and awarded five years in jail. In the fourth case pertaining to illegal withdrawal to the tune of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury, he was awarded seven years’ imprisonment on March 4, 2018. In the Doranda treasury embezzlement case, he was sentenced to five years in jail besides a fine of Rs 60 lakh.