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Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav (66) was accused by the CBI of misusing Rs 37 crore when he was chief minister 17 years ago. The case is related to a larger scam which saw huge amounts of government money - nearly Rs 950 crores - being used to pay fictitious bills for medicines and fodder for cattle
Lalu is expected to be taken to the Ranchi jail after court
Lalu may face disqualification as member of parliament in view of the Supreme Court order. The apex court in its order delivered in July ruled that any MP convicted in a criminal case would have to quit office, regardless of an appeal in a higher court
Altogether 61 cases were filed by the CBI in the fodder scam, 53 of which were transferred from Bihar to Jharkhand after the bifurcation of the state in November 2000.
The courts have passed judgements in 43 cases so far.
Nearly 1,200 people, including officials and suppliers, have been convicted in different cases so far.
The case, RC 20 A /96, involves Lalu Prasad, another former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra, JD (U) MP Jagdish Sharma and 41 others, including four retired IAS officer and a former Income-Tax commissioner
All the other accused including Jagannath Mishra have been convicted in the case
Lalu had to resign as the Bihar chief minister in 1997 after being charged in the scam. Lalu placed his wife Rabri Devi as CM. But in the 2005 election, he lost Bihar to Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) who has been in power ever since.
