A special CBI court in Ranchi, which was set to pronounce verdict in the fourth fodder scam case involving former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, deferred the same on Saturday. Now the pronouncement is scheduled to take place on March 19.
The case is related to alleged withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury over two decades ago against Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra.
"Ranchi's Special CBI Court defers verdict in Dumka treasury case, involving Lalu Yadav, to 19 March. #FodderScam," the news agency ANI tweeted.
The possible reason behind the deferral was Lalu's bad health due to which he was brought to Ranchi's RIMS Hospital later in the day.
The pronouncement was earlier postponed on Thursday in view of the Lalu Prasad's counsel filing a petition under 319 CrPC asking the then three officials of the Accountant General (in the 1990s) be made a party to the case.
Section 319 Cr PC is invoked when there is some strong and cogent evidence against the accused.
Prasad's counsel said he had filed the petition on March 14 and re-submitted it on Thursday after correcting some typographical mistakes.
The special CBI court of Shiv Pal Singh allowed admission of the petition on Friday.
After perusal of records, the court found a prima facie case and the petition filed on 14/3/2018 was allowed, said Anand, another counsel for Prasad.
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Apart from Prasad and Mishra, 29 others including former IAS officers and animal husbandry officials are accused in the Dumka Treasury case.
Prasad had already been convicted in three fodder cases while Mishra was convicted in two fodder cases.
A special CBI court on January 24 sentenced Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra to five years in jail in a fodder scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.62 crore from the Chaibasa treasury.
On January 6, a special CBI court had sentenced Prasad to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined him Rs 10 lakh in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.
In 2013, Prasad was convicted in the first fodder scam case involving the withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from the Chaibasa treasury.
Prasad has been lodged in the Birsa Munda jail at Ranchi since December 23 last year after being convicted in the second case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of money from the Deogarh treasury.
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A fifth case relating to alleged fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 139 crore from the Doranda treasury in Ranchi is pending with the court.
The over Rs 9,00-crore fodder scam cases relate to illegal withdrawal of money from government treasury in different districts in the animal husbandry department in undivided Bihar in the 1990s when RJD was in power in the state.
(With agency inputs)
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