Fodder scam: SC sends notice to Lalu Prasad Yadav following CBI plea

The Supreme Court has sent a notice to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav regarding the two decade old fodder scam case.

The notice sent by the apex court asks why certain charges against him in one of the FIRS which were dropped by the Jharkhand high court cannot be revived. The notice was sent following a plea by the CBI against the Jharkhand HC ruling. The former Bihar CM has four weeks to reply.

The high court order had given Prasad relief under the relevant section of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act and Article 22 of the Constitution. Through these laws, a person once convicted or acquitted cannot be tried again for the same offence.

Prasad was charged in many cases in the fodder scam in which Rs 900 crores were found to be embezzled from the Bihar exchequer to provide fictitious medicines and fodder for cattle for a period of 20 years. 

Prasad was charged with embezzling Rs 37 crores in October 2013, but got bail in the case in November 2014 from the apex court. He was banned from contesting elections due to his conviction.