A special CBI court on Saturday convicted former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and 15 others in a fodder scam case while acquitting six including another former chief minister Jagannath Mishra.
CBI judge Shivpal Singh pronounced the verdict in a packed courtroom in the case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar Treasury between 1991 and 1994.
Lalu Prasad, the chief of RJD, and other convicts were taken into custody immediately after the pronouncement of the verdict..
Here are the live updates:
4.47 pm: Manish Tewari of Congress says, “Lalu Yadav has been fighting this legal battle since 1996. It started when BJP leaders filed PIL against him in Patna HC. He & his lawyers are capable of fighting this case. I want to ask BJP why Srijan scam is not being investigated?”
4.45 pm: Lalu Prasad Yadav brought to Birsa Munda Central Jail.
4.30 pm:
Had people like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Baba Saheb Ambedkar failed in their efforts, history would have treated them as villains. They still are villains for the biased, racist and caste-ist minds. No one should expect any different treatment.
— Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) December 23, 2017
4.25 pm: Truth can be made to appear as a lie, as ambiguous or a half lie by concerted onslaught of bias driven propaganda. But blurred layer of bias and hatred will still be removed, come what may! In end Truth will win, tweets Lalu Prasad Yadav .
A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. ….But still prevails…In the end though.
— Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) December 23, 2017
4.15 pm: Manoj Jha of the RJD responds to the verdict saying they will get redressal at a higher court.
” Kind of evidences we have, we’ll get redressal at a higher court. Politically I know this regime, they have this typical Standard Operating Procedure-Try to make a deal with your opposition, if you fail…scare them. Want to tell them-Your end has begun, ” he said.
3.53pm: Total 16 people, including Lalu Prasad Yadav, have been found guilty. Six, including former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra, have been acquitted. Quantum of punishment to be pronounced on January 3.
3.52pm: Ranchi’s Special CBI Court pronounces verdict, holds Lalu Prasad Yadav guilty. Former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra has been acquitted.
3.30pm: Police clear court premises prior to verdict in a fodder scam, ask RJD, Lalu supporters to leave Ranchi court campus.
2.55pm: Lalu Prasad reaches special CBI court in Ranchi ahead of the verdict in a fodder scam case.
RJD workers and Lalu supporters outside Ranchi court prior to fodder scam verdict. Heavy security deployed. @htTweets pic.twitter.com/NBzFKe6NkT
— Saurav Roy (@saurav_journo) December 23, 2017
2.35pm: “We are expecting a fair decision today. The verdict today will show that the justice can be delayed but cannot be denied,” JD (U) leader and petitioner in a fodder scam case Rajeev Ranjan Singh tells ANI.
2pm: “Whether he is acquitted or convicted, is for the court to decide. We do not comment on it, but he is lecturing on the TV since morning even though the judgement is yet to be delivered,” says Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan.
11.03am: Hearing for the fodder scam verdict has been moved to 3pm. Lalu Prasad has left the court campus.
10.52am: Fomer Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra, one of the accused in the case, reaches the Ranchi court.
10.42am: “Whatever be the judgment, appeal to people of Bihar to maintain law and order,” says Lalu Prasad as he arrives at the special CBI court.
10.19am: Supporters of Lalu Prasad start gathering at the court premises. There is a heavy police force at the complex. Lalu Prasad is expected to arrive soon.
10.14am: “We trust the judiciary and hope the verdict will be in our favour. Just like the BJP’s propaganda was busted in the 2G scam and Adarsh scam, a similar thing will happen now,” says Lalu Prasad’s son: Tejashwi Yadav.
9.05am: Lalu Prasad says: “We trust and respect the judiciary. We will not let BJP’s conspiracies work.” The former Bihar chief minister alleges the BJP governments since the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee have been harassing him and his family by misusing the CBI for the past 25 years.
8.30am: The special CBI court is likely to announce the verdict on fodder scam case involving lalu Prasad yadav and his aide Jagannath Mishra around 10.30am.
On Friday evening, Lalu Prasad, Mishra and other accused arrived in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi to appear in person before the court. To meet their party chief, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) workers and supporters from Bihar and Jharkhand made a beeline to the railway guest house where Lalu Prasad is staying. “My client has arrived in Ranchi to appear before the court on Saturday, the day fixed for the verdict,” said Prasad’s advocate Prabhat Kumar.
The case so far
What is the fodder scam? A sum of Rs 950 crore was fraudulently withdrawn from various government treasuries in Bihar by making a false paper trail of purchases of fodder, medicines, equipment and other articles by the state’s animal husbandry department (AHD), according to the CBI.
The scam first surfaced in 1996 after raids at AHD offices in Chaibasa, now in Jharkhand.
CBI charges
Lalu Prasad and former MLA and chairman of the public accounts committee (PAC) Jagdish Sharma sought to protect and patronize the perpetrators of the scam and worked in tandem to get enquires scuttled and stalled whenever such issues were raisedPrasad was instrumental in the promotion and service extension of scam kingpins and AHD officials, the late Dr Ram Raj Ram and the late Dr SB Sinha
Lalu’s contentions
I have been targeted. None of the prosecution witnesses ever mentioned my involvement in their testimonyNo deputy commissioners of the districts had ever alerted about excess withdrawal from treasuries. CBI made the wrongdoers approvers (witnesses) while making the whistleblower (Lalu) the accused.
HT
