Former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra surrenders before CBI court

Former Bihar chief minister and fodder scam convict Jagannath Mishra on Thursday surrendered before a CBI court after being in a hospital on interim bail since his conviction in the case in 2013.

Mishra's surrender came on a previous direction by the Jharkhand High Court that he should surrender to the lower court before his petition for regular bail comes up.

The former chief minister, who surrendered to the special CBI court of Yogeshwar Meena, was sent to jail and then shifted to Ranchi's Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences on medical ground.

Mishra was sentenced to four years rigorous imprisonment on October 3, 2013 after being convicted on September 30 that year by a special CBI court in the RC20A/96 case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury in 1990s.

Another former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and several other officials, politicians and fodder suppliers were also convicted in the same case.

Prasad has since obtained bail in the case.

The Jharkhand High Court had on July 21 last year quashed four other fodder scam cases against Mishra under CrPC 300, which states a person convicted in one case could not be tried in similar cases based on the same witnesses and evidences.