A special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Ranchi today sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years' imprisonment and imposed Rs 60 lakh fine on him in the Rs 139-crore fodder scam case.
Yadav was convicted in the case on February 15 and the quantum of punishment was scheduled to be given out today. Yadav has been found guilty of illegal withdrawals to the tune of Rs 139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury by the CBI court.
The ailing 73-year-old veteran politician, who was shifted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, from Hotwar jail following the conviction last week, was earlier sentenced to 14 years in jail in four other cases related to Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries in Jharkhand.?
A total of 170 people had been named as accused in the Doranda treasury scam case. Of these, 55 have died, seven have become government witnesses, six are absconding and two accepted the charges against them.?
The fodder scam was unearthed in the 1990s in united Bihar.
Preparing a report on the financial irregularities, the Bihar auditor general had commented: ¡°Cattle were transported on scooters, police vans, oil tankers and autos¡± in the fodder scam.
Yadav was accused in another fodder scam case in Bihar¡¯s Banka. That trial is still underway. He has been convicted in all five fodder scam cases of Jharkhand.
The fodder scam covered Ranchi, Chaibasa, Dumka, Gumla and Jamshedpur district treasuries in Jharkhand and Banka in Bihar. The scale of the fodder scam was estimated at Rs 950 crore (in rough value through dollar conversion, it would be about Rs 2,255 crore today).
Yadav was disqualified from the Lok Sabha due to his conviction and sentencing in the Chaibasa fodder scam case.
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