Today, RJD chief Lalu Yadav is sentenced to 7 years in prison and 60 lakhs of fine, in the fourth fodder scam case.
The court had sentenced the RJD leader in a case linking to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from December 1995 to January 1996 from the Dumka treasury.
If the leader fails to deposit the fine amount then he will be charged for 1 more year, says verdict.
However, another former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra was excused. This is the second case in which Mishra has been acquitted.
Lalu Yadav was convicted in the first fodder scam case in 2013 and awarded 5 years in jail. He was convicted in the second case on December 23, 2017, and awarded three-and-a-half years imprisonment.
The RJD supremo was convicted in the third case on January 24 and awarded a five-year jail term.
The former Bihar chief minister has been serving a jail term in Ranchi's Birsa Munda Central Jail since December last year after his conviction in two other fodder scam cases.
History of the case:
In 1996, the Patna High Court ordered an inquiry into the fodder scam cases and a charge sheet in the Deogarh treasury case was filed against 38 people on 27 October 1997.
Eleven of them have died and three turned approvers while two other accused confessed and were convicted in 2006-07, according to the reports.
The accused faced charges under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The first conviction in the 1996 fodder case came on 30 September 2013, when Lalu, Jagannath and several others were convicted in another case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa Treasury in the early 1990s.
The Supreme Court had granted bail to Lalu on 13 December, after being behind the bars for two months.
He had moved the apex court challenging the order of the Jharkhand High Court which had dismissed his bail plea.
Saturday's verdict was related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 84.5 lakh from Deogarh district treasury.
The hearing was completed on 13 December in a special CBI court of Ranchi.
Lalu faces four more cases in the fodder scam including three cases of illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka Treasury, Rs 36 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury and Rs 184 crore from the Doranda treasury.
The trial in three cases of Lalu and Jagannath gained momentum in May after the Supreme Court directed the special court to complete the trial within nine months.
