Ranchi: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ranchi has rejected former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad's petition to quash other cases of the multi-crore fodder scam against him. Lalu Prasad, the chief of Rashtriya Janata Dal, had petitioned the court that other fodder scam cases against him should be dropped because he has already been convicted in one of cases.
On September 30, 2013, a special CBI court had convicted Lalu Prasad in the multi-crore fodder scam case. He was sentenced to jail for five years and also disqualified from Lok Sabha and barred from contesting elections. He will not be able to contest elections for six years after his jail term is over.
He was granted bail on December 13, 2013. The former Bihar chief minister was convicted in the RC 20 A/96 case for fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Jharkhand's Chaibasa treasury.
Lalu and 44 other convicted persons were found guilty under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of a valuable security/will or authority to make or transfer any valuable security/receive any money), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 477A (fraudulently destroying or defacing, or attempting to destroy or deface, or secreting a will). They were also found guilty under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Following the Animal Husbandry scam that surfaced in 1996, popularly known as the fodder scam, Prasad had to resign as chief minister of Bihar on July 25, 1997 when his name figured in the CBI investigations. After stepping down, he rather surprising pulled his wife Rabri Devi out of the "chowka" (kitchen) and made her the chief minister and continued to rule through proxy.
He later surrendered before a court in Patna on July 31, 1997. Then he came to Ranchi following a court order that Ranchi had the jurisdiction of the case. The Becon Guest House was converted to a camp jail in Ranchi before he was shifted to the old Birsa Munda Jail at Circular road in Ranchi.
After Jharkhand's bifurcation on November 15, 2000, the litigations were brought before the Supreme Court whether the Patna High Court had the jurisdiction on the cases in this part of the undivided Bihar and trial was stayed till December 2000 to December 2001.
(With inputs from PTI)
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