The legal troubles for jailed former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad seem to be compounding as the special CBI court will on Thursday deliver its verdict in the fourth fodder scam with the RJD chief facing upto 10 years in prison.
The hearing in the fodder case — relating to fraudulent withdrawals of Rs 3.13 crore from December 1995 to January 1996 from the Dumka treasury — was completed on March 5.
Besides Lalu Prasad, another former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and 30 others are accused in this case.
Lalu Prasad was convicted in the first fodder scam case in 2013 and awarded five years in jail.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief was convicted by a special CBI court in the second case on December 23, 2017, and awarded three-and-half years’ imprisonment on January 6.
He was convicted in the third case on January 24, related to fraudulent withdrawals from the Chaibasa treasury, and awarded a five-year jail term.
The multi-million-rupee fodder scam surfaced in the 1990s when Lalu Yadav was Chief Minister of undivided Bihar.
The probe was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation on Patna High Court’s order.
The bulk of the cases were transferred to Ranchi after Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000.
(With inputs from agencies)