Fodder scam: Lalu, 36 others likely to be sentenced at 3 PM

Arguments on the quantum of sentence to RJD leader Lalu Prasad and 36 other accused in the fodder scam case were on Thursday completed in a special court here with CBI seeking maximum prison term of up to seven years for them.

Special CBI judge Pravas Kumar Singh is likely to pronounce the punishment at 3 PM on Thursday through video conferencing. 65-year-old Prasad and other convicts are currently lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail here.

In all, 45 fodder accused had been convicted in the case and the judge had delivered the sentence against eight of them on September 30 itself.

The counsel of Yadav, convicted former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, sitting JD(U) MP Jagdish Sharma, former legislator R K Rana and others sought lesser sentence in the case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa Treasury when Yadav was heading the RJD government in the early 1990s.

CBI counsel, however, prayed for maximum punishment for the accused.

Former Development Commissioner Phoolchand Singh, former Science and Technology Secretary Mahesh Prasad, former AHD Secretary Beck Juleus, former Income Tax Commissioner Adhip Chandra Choudhary, former Class I officers Gouri Shankar Prasad, Brajnandan Sharma, K M Prasad (all three were with the Animal Husbandry Department) and other officials, suppliers are among the remaining 37 convicts awaiting pronouncement of sentence.

Prasad was convicted in the 17-year-old case on corruption and other charges that disqualifies him from Parliament.

Sitting JD(U) MP from Jahanabad Jagadish Sharma also faces disqualification in the wake of a Supreme Court judgement that an MP or MLA would stand disqualified immediately if convicted by a court for crimes with punishment of two years or more and under some other laws even without jail sentence.

RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha has said that the verdict would be challenged in a higher court after the pronouncement of the sentence.