The verdict in the fourth case of multi-crore fodder scam against jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Yadav is likely to be announced on Friday.
On Thursday, the judgement related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from Dumka Treasury (RC 38A/96) was deferred by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court after RJD leader's plea. Besides former Bihar chief ministers Lalu Yadav and Jagannath Mishra, there are 29 accused, including former IAS officers and AHD officials, in the Dumka Treasury case. Lalu was convicted in three fodder cases while Mishra was convicted in two fodder cases.
"We filed a petition on Monday asking the Attorney General office officials to be made accused in the case too. Both parties argued in the Court. The order has been reserved and it will be pronounced tomorrow. After that the date of judgement will be fixed," Lalu Yadav's lawyer Prabhat Kumar had said.
Special CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh put off the judgement in view of the counsel for Lalu filing a petition under 319 CrPC, asking that the then three officials of the Accountant General of Office in the 1990s be made a party to the case under 319 CrPC.
A special CBI court on January 24 this year sentenced Lalu and Jagannath Mishra to five years in jail in a fodder scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.62 crore from Chaibasad treasury.
Earlier on January 6 this year, a special CBI court had sentenced Lalu to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined Rs 10 lakh in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.
In 2013, the former Bihar CM was convicted in the first fodder scam case involving withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from the Chaibasa treasury. He has been in Birsa Munda jail at Ranchi since December 23 last year after being convicted in the second case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of money from Deogarh treasury.
The over Rs 900-crore fodder scam cases relate to illegal withdrawal of money from government treasury in different districts in the Animal Husbandry department in undivided Bihar in 1990s when RJD was in power in the state.
