Fodder scam: RJD chief Lalu Yadav appears before CBI special court

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav today appeared before a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in Ranchi, Jharkhand in connection with the fodder scam case.

 There are a total of 48 accused in the case and most of them were evading personal appearance. It is a 1,000 crore rupees by the Animal Husbandry department from various districts when Lalu was the Bihar chief minister from 1990 to 1997.

Earlier, on October 3, 2013, Lalu was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in another case of fodder scam by a special CBI court, which had disqualified him from membership of Parliament and also rendered him ineligible for contesting elections for 11 years.

 Besides Lalu, six other politicians and four retired IAS officers were also sentenced to prison terms for fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa treasury (now in Jharkhand) when Lalu was heading the Janta Dal government in the early 1990s in erstwhile Bihar.