The scam that changed Lalu's political future

Fodder scam in which Yadav was convicted Monday not only ended his prime ministerial ambition, but also dethroned him as CM of Bihar

Whenever history discusses Bihar's former chief minister Lalu Prasad, the fodder scam, or Chara Ghotala, as popularly known in Bihar, is bound to come up. The scam not only changed the political future of Prasad, but also changed Bihar's politics. It is the scam which not only ended Lalu's prime ministerial ambition, but also dethroned him as the Chief Minister of Bihar. 

The basic premise of this Rs 950 crore scam was very simple and that is why, it remained undetected for almost a decade. It all began in mid 1980's, when the state government launched a milch cattle scheme for the deprived section of the society. Under this scheme, the state government decided to give at least one milch cattle and a monthly quota of cattle feed to every ST/SC family in the then undivided Bihar. However, the tainted officials soon found this scheme more milch than jersey cows. 

 

In the early phases, only the scam was limited to fictitious distribution of cattle and cattle feed. However, as soon as Lalu Prasad took the reins of the state in 1990, Shyam Bihari Sinha and other kingpins of this scam decided to encash their proximity with the young Chief Minister. The officials began large scale fictitious purchase of cattle, cattle feed and vehicles for cattle transportation. Between 1993-94 and 1995-96, the state government paid Rs 253 crore for purchase of cattle feed in Ranchi, Chaibasa, Dumka, Jamshedpur, Gumla and Patna, while the real value of the feed was just Rs 10 crore. Needless to say that the CBI, later, found that the bills were forged and not even a single gram of cattle feed was purchased from this amount.  At the same time, state government found to have paid Rs 172 crore on a fictitious purchase of maize based cattle feed in these six districts.

 

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its report in 1995, pointed out how in a state government's farm, in Ranchi, 50,000 kg of mustard oil (then worth Rs 15 lakh) was purchased in a single year just to shine the horns of the buffalos. The CAG also pointed out several discrepancies in cattle transport. The animal husbandry department had shown in its record that it ferried the cattle from district headquarters to Panchayats on truck and gave their registration numbeRs However on verification, the registration numbers were found to be of cars, auto rickshaws and, in some case, scooteRs  All of this money found their ways into the pockets of bureaucrats and politicians. 

 

As the thirst for money grew, the officials soon resorted to unauthorised excess withdrawals on a gigantic scale particularly from treasuries situated in Ranchi, Chaibasa, Dumka, Jamshedpur, Gumla and Patna. Such was the extent of the loot that between 1990-91 and 1995-96, the tainted officials had withdrawn more than Rs 600 crore from the state treasuries with no proper explanation. It was almost double of the actual allocation of the animal husbandry department. Almost three fourth of that money was withdrawn from the abovementioned treasuries in just three years between 1993-94 and 1995-96. It happened with the explicit permission directly from the Chief Minister, despite several and repeated objections from the Finance Secretary and the Chief Secretary of the state. 

 

Prasad also held finance portfolio at that time. In return of favours, both in cash and kind, from the accused officials, Prasad and other politicians such as Dhruv Bhagat and Jagdish Sharma (both served as Chairman of the PAC in the State Assembly) kept their eyes shut. Records indicates that Sinha and RK Rana (another prime accused in fodder scam case) were made local guardians of three children of Lalu Prasad, who were at that time studying in a prestigious school in Ranchi. CBI also accused Ex-CM Jagannath Mishra, a senior JD (U) leader, of writing recommendation letters for Sinha and other officials in return of financial favouRs