Lalu Prasad Yadav sentenced to 5 years in prison in third fodder scam case

Ranchi: A Special CBI court in Ranchi on Wednesday convicted former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in Chaibasa Treasury case and sent him to five years in jail imposing a fine of Rs 10 lakh. Former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra also sentenced to five years in prison in third fodder scam case by Ranchi Court. Both Lalu Yadav and Jagannath Mishra are also fined Rs 5 lakhs each by the court. Lalu Yadav is presently serving 3.5 years jail imprisonment in Deogarh Treasury case. Special court judge S.S. Prasad delivered the judgment in the case, which was related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 33.67 crore from Chaibasa treasury in 1992-1993. Former chief minister of Bihar Jagannath Mishra was also found guilty in the case and also has been served 5 years in jail. The allegation was that Rs 33.67 crore was withdrawn on fake allotment letters. The actual sanction of amount was Rs 7.10 lakh. The quantum of sentence was delivered a few minutes before 2pm. Senior RJD leader alleged conspiracy by BJP and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar for Lalu's conviction through CBI and said will move High Court to get justice.

We will approach High Court and I am confident we will emerge victorious: Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, senior RJD leader.

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) January 24, 2018

Lalu's son Tejaswi Yadav laid blame on the BJP and RSS for getting him jailed. He alleged Modi will announcing early general elections in December this year due to which such activities are taking place. "It is a clear conspiracy by BJP and RSS to get Laluji jailed in which major role is played by Nitish Kumar. We will move High Court, Laluji lives in hearts of people. Modiji wants elections in December 2018 so Mohan Bhagwat is seen in Bihar & Nitish Kumar travels regularly to Delhi," Tejaswi told reporters. Senor Bihar BJP leaders Giriraj Singh and Sushil Kumar Modi termed the RJD allegations as "baseless". In all there were 56 accused, including former Chief Secretary of Jharkhand Sajal Chakraborty. Sajjal was Deputy Commissioner of West Singhbhum district when the alleged fraudulent withdrawal had taken place. Out of the 56 accused in the case, six were acquitted. This was the third case in which Lalu Yadav and Jagannth Mishra were accused. Currently, Lalu Yadav is in Birsa Munda Central Jail of Ranchi, as he was awarded a three-and-a-half year sentence on January 6 this year in a fodder scam relating to fraudulent withdrawal from Deoghar treasury.  The two case will run consecutively and not concurrently. Lalu Yadav was first convicted in a fodder scam case in 2013 and was awarded five years' imprisonment.