RJD chief Lalu Prasad was today sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail by a CBI special court in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago. Reacting to his verdict, Tejashwi Yadav hit out at the BJP. As did Lalu Prasad in a tweet.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad was today sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail by a CBI special court in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago. Reacting to his verdict, Tejashwi Yadav hit out at the BJP. As did Lalu Prasad in a tweet.
Speaking at a press conference, Tejashwi Yadav said that Lalu Prasad would’ve been treated like Harishchandra if he had joined the BJP. He said: “If Lalu ji had done compromise with BJP, he would be the most truthful person for them like Raja Harishchandra. It is clear that the BJP-RSS combine is scared of Lalu even while he is in jail and is doing all that it can to silence Lalu's voice.”
Lalu’s son and the former Bihar Deputy CM went on to add: “We have full faith in judiciary. It is a conspiracy to break RJD by RSS in which Lalu ji was made a scapegoat. But they should remember that we still have High Court and Supreme Court to appeal against the judgement by CBI court. Come what may Lalu will never get scared, nor will he even kneel down. In fact, he will always stick to his ideology.”
Lalu wrote and open letter on Twitter and also said he would prefer to die for social justice rather than practising the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) simple rule - 'Follow us or We will Fix you'.
CBI court judge Shiv Pal Singh, who had convicted Prasad, along with 10 others on December 23, also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakhs on him for offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).
He was fined Rs 5 lakh each under the IPC and the PCA, a CBI counsel said, adding that failure to pay the fine would entail another six months in jail.
The court had convicted Prasad for offences of cheating, along with criminal conspiracy, under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The scam is related to withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deogarh Treasury between 1990 and 1994 when Prasad was the chief minister of Bihar.
The 69-year-old RJD supremo, in a written plea yesterday, had sought leniency from the CBI court citing illness and old age, according to his counsel Chittaranjan Prasad.
The RJD went into a huddle immediately after the pronouncement of the sentence.
RJD sources said that the party would appeal against the verdict.
This is the second fodder scam case in which Prasad has been jailed.
He was sent to prison for five years on September 30, 2013.
Prasad was granted bail by the Supreme Court after having spent over two-and-a-half months in jail.
The 69-year-old RJD supremo, in a written plea yesterday, had sought leniency from the CBI court citing illness and old age, according to his counsel Chittaranjan Prasad.
The RJD went into a huddle immediately after the pronouncement of the sentence.
RJD sources said that the party would appeal against the verdict.
This is the second fodder scam case in which Prasad has been jailed.
He was sent to prison for five years on September 30, 2013.
Prasad was granted bail by the Supreme Court after having spent over two-and-a-half months in jail.
With inputs from PTI
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