Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Bihar chief minister Jagganth Mishra and 43 others were Monday convicted in a fodder scam case by a Special CBI court here.Special CBI Judge Pravas Kumar Singh found all the 45 accused guilty.The quantum of sentence will be announced Oct 3 through video conferencing.Lalu Prasad arrived in Ranchi Sunday along with his son Tejasvi by a plane and stayed in the railway guest house. On way to court Monday, he offered prayers at the Durga temple on Ranchi's Ratu Road. RJD leaders, including Lok Sabha member Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Prabhunath Singh and Lalu's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, were present in the courtroom when the judgment was pronounced.In the multi-million animal husbandry department scam, popularly known as the fodder scam, Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra, both former chief ministers of Bihar, and ministers from the department, two IAS officials and others have been accused of fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.37.70 crore from Chaibasa district treasury. After the pision of Bihar, Chaibasa district is now in Jharkhand.The verdict is crucial for Lalu Prasad and his future as a political leader since the central government ordinance that would have shielded tainted and convicted parliamentarians and legislators from disqualification may be withdrawn after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi trashed it.
There were a total of 56 accused in the case. But during the trial, seven accused died, two turned approvers, one admitted to the crime and one was discharged.Judge P.K. Singh had fixed July 15 as the date for verdict, and asked the remaining 45 accused to be present in the court. Lalu Prasad moved the Jharkhand High Court and later the Supreme Court, seeking change of the judge in the case. Both the courts dismissed his petition, and directed him to complete argument in the case before the CBI special court.He quit the chief minister's post in 1997 when his name figured in the CBI investigations in the scam, which surfaced in 1996. Around 54 of the 61 cases were transferred to Jharkhand, after it was created as a separate state from Bihar in November 2000. Different CBI courts have passed judgments in more than 43 cases. Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra are accused in five cases.In neighbouring Bihar, authorities apprehending trouble sounded an alert across the state Monday.
The state authorities sounded alert well in advance fearing backlash from RJD supporters. "The police headquarters has alerted all the superintendents of police and asked them to keep a close watch after the court verdict on Lalu Prasad in the fodder scam case," a police official said.According to police, alert was sounded following an intelligence report that Lalu's supporters, including RJD workers and leaders, would take to streets or go on rampage if court verdict went against him.Additional security forces have been deployed in sensitive areas to check and control any attempt to create violence, police said.