Fodder scam case: Fate of ex-Bihar CMs Lalu, Mishra to be decided today

Ranchi: The fate of former Bihar chief ministers Lalu Prasad Yadav and Jagannath Mishra and 20 others will be decided on Saturday by a special CBI court in Ranchi in the fodder scam case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of more than Rs 89 lakh from Deoghar Treasury between 1991 and 1994.

Overall, more than Rs 900 crore was reportedly siphoned off from the Chaibasa treasury for two decades.

Lalu, accompanied by younger son Tejaswi Yadav, arrived in Ranchi to present himself before the special CBI Judge Shiv Pal Singh.

Besides the two ex-chief ministers, former MP R K Rana, three former IAS officers - Phoolchand Singh, Beck Julius and Mahesh Prasad - are also among the 22 accused in the fodder case.

The other accused in the case include former Bihar minister Vidya Sagar Nishad, former Public Accounts Committee chairmen Jagdish Sharma and Dhruv Bhagat.
A chargesheet was filed against 38 persons on October 27, 1997.

Eleven of them died and three turned approvers while two other accused confessed to their crime and were convicted in 2006-07, a CBI official said.

The accused are facing charges under IPC sections 120B, 409, 418, 420, 467, 468, 471, 477 (A), 201 and 511 and under Prevention of Corruption Act section 13 (1) D read with 13 (2).

The order was reserved on December 13. Lalu faces three other fodder cases.