The story so far: A special CBI court convicted Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo and former Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad, in the ₹139.5 crore Doranda treasury case, the fifth against him in the fodder scam. The case relates to misappropriation of crores of rupees in public money meant for animal husbandry. Mr. Prasad has already been convicted in previous cases related to the scam and is out on bail due to ill health. The 73-year-old politician will be lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi after his plea to be admitted to the government-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences was turned down by the court. The RJD leader suffers from a host of health-related issues including renal problems.
What happens now?
THE GIST
A special CBI court convicted former Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad, in the ₹139.5 crore Doranda treasury case, the fifth case against him in the fodder scam. The case relates to misappropriation of crores of rupees in public money meant for animal husbandry.
The fodder scam involved an elaborate network of officials from the animal husbandry department across the districts of a united South Bihar, withdrawing funds amounting to ₹950 crore from the government treasury after furnishing fictitious bills. The scam surfaced in January 1996 after the then Deputy Commissioner Amit Khare raided the offices of the Animal Husbandry Department and seized documents that showed siphoning of funds by non-existent companies in the name of supplying fodder.
In July 1997, Mr. Prasad resigned as CM and surrendered before a CBI court and was sent to judicial custody. Beginning with the scam unearthed in the Chaibasa treasury, where Mr. Prasad, who held both the finance and animal husbandry portfolios, was awarded five years in jail, he was again awarded three and half years imprisonment for siphoning off ₹80 lakh from the Deoghar treasury. In 2018 he was again convicted for withdrawing money from the Dumka treasury. Here he was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment.
