MUMBAI – Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has been sentenced to seven years in jail each under two offences in the fourth case linked to the fodder scam, according to reports in Indian media.
The 69-year-old chief of Rashtriya Janata Dal, who was convicted by a court in Jharkhand’s Ranchi on Monday, has also been fined INR60 lakh, the NDTV reported. The fodder scam involves the embezzlement of government funds in Bihar meant for cattle fodder.
“I fear for his life,” son Tejashwi Yadav later told reporters, claiming there appeared to be a conspiracy against his father.
It is not immediately clear whether the two sentences – one for offences under the penal code and the second under the corruption law – would run concurrently or consecutively.
In 2013, Lalu Yadav was convicted in the first fodder scam case and sentenced to jail for five years. In the second case, he was sentenced to three-and-half years in jail in December last year and in the third, to five years in jail.
He faces two more cases — one in Ranchi and one in Patna.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/world/ex-indian-cm-laloo-prasad-found-guilty-of-embezzlement/
The multi-million-rupee scam surfaced in the 1990s when Lalu Yadav was chief minister of undivided Bihar. This fourth fodder scam case relates to Rs. 3.13 crore swindled from the Dumka treasury between December 1995 and January 1996.
Besides Lalu Yadav, there are 31 other accused in this case, including another former chief minister Jagannath Mishra, who was acquitted by the court on Monday.
Because of his conviction, Lalu Yadav can’t contest elections or hold public office for years. In his absence, his son Tejashwi Yadav has led the party and was seen to prove himself up to the task when the RJD retained two key seats in Bihar bypolls.
