Fodder Scam: Lalu Prasad Yadav sentenced to five years in prison in Chaibasa Treasury case

A special CBI court in Ranchi on Wednesday sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years jail in the third fodder scam case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.62 crore from the Chaibasa treasury in the 1990s.

The 69-year-old Prasad is currently lodged in the Birsa Munda Jail here in connection with another fodder scam case.

Former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra has also been sentenced to five years.

Both Lalu Yadav and Jagannath Mishra have been fined Rs 5 lakhs each by the Court

Earlier in the day, former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra was also found guilty by Special CBI court. Former Bihar minister Vidyasagar Nishad, ex-Bihar Assembly PAC chief Jagdish Sharma, former MLAs Dhruv Bhagat and R K Rana and three ex-IAS officers were also among the 50 persons who were convicted.

Leader of the opposition in Bihar Assembly and Lalu Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav also accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the BJP of framing his father.

"People know how BJP ,RSS and more importantly Nitish Kumar have conspired against Lalu ji. We will approach higher courts against all these verdicts," said Tejashwi Yadav.

"We have to abide by whatever is the court's ruling. But the CBI court order is not going to be final," he added.

On January 6, the RJD leader was sentenced to three-and- a-half years in jail and fined Rs 10 lakh by a another CBI judge in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

Prasad had been convicted in the first fodder scam case involving withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa treasury on September 30, 2013 and given five years prison term.

He faces another two scam cases for illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka Treasury and Rs 184 crore from the Doranda Treasury.