Judgement in fourth Fodder Scam Case against Lalu Yadav deferred

RANCHI: The judgement in the fourth case of multi-crore fodder scam against former Bihar chief ministers Lalu Yadav and Jagannath Mishra was deferred on Thursday by a CBI special court after the RJD leader’s counsel filed a plea.

No date has been fixed yet for the pronouncement of judgement in the case which is related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs. 3.13 crore from Dumka Treasury.

Special CBI Judge Shiv Pal Singh put off the judgement in view of the counsel for Lalu Yadav on Wednesday filing a petition under 319 CrPC, asking that the then three officials of the Accountant General of Office in the 1990s be made a party to the case under 319 CrPC.

Mr Yadav’s counsel said he had filed the petition on Wednesday and re-submitted it on Thursday after correcting some typographical mistakes.

The court on Thursday heard the petition and would decide it today, according to Mr Yadav’s counsel.

Besides Lalu Yadav and Jagannath Mishra, there are 29 accused, including former IAS officers and AHD officials, in the Dumka Treasury case.

Earlier, Mr Yadav was convicted in three fodder cases while Mr Mishra was convicted in two fodder cases.

A special CBI court on January 24 this year sentenced Lalu Yadav and Jagannath Mishra to five years in jail in a fodder scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs. 37.62 crore from Chaibasad treasury.

Earlier on January 6 this year, a special CBI court had sentenced Mr yadav to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined Rs. 10 lakh in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs. 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

In 2013, Mr Yadav was convicted in the first fodder scam case involving withdrawal of Rs. 37.7 crore from the Chaibasad treasury.

Lalu Yadav has been in Birsa Munda jail at Ranchi since December 23 last year after being convicted in the second case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of money from Deogarh treasury.

The fifth case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs. 139 crore from treasury of Doranda in Ranchi is pending with the court.

The over Rs. 900-crore fodder scam cases relate to illegal withdrawal of money from government treasury in different districts in the Animal Husbandry department in undivided Bihar in 1990s when RJD was in power in the state.

PTI