Fodder scam: Lalu Yadav sentenced to 3.5 years in jail, slapped with Rs 5 Lakh fine

The special CBI court in Ranchi pronounced three and half years imprisonment for RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in a fodder scam case on Saturday. The court also imposed Rs 5 Lakh fine on Lalu.

After the judgement, Lalu's son and former Deputy CM of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav said, "the judiciary performed its duty. We will go to the High Court after studying the sentence and apply for a bail."

Lalu Yadav on Friday had filed a plea seeking minimum punishment for himself citing his poor health condition. 

According to legal experts, Lalu Prasad could apply for bail immediately at the lower court itself if the quantum of sentence happens to be less than three years.

JDU leader KC Tyagi terming the CBI court's decision as "historic," said "We welcome this judgement, this will prove to be a historic decision in Bihar politics. It is the end of a chapter."

We welcome this judgement, this will prove to be a historic decision in Bihar politics. It is the end of a chapter: KC Tyagi,JDU on #LaluPrasadYadav sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for #FodderScam pic.twitter.com/ODvPFhQXEA

— ANI (@ANI) January 6, 2018

Apart from Lalu Yadav, other convicts Phool Chand, Mahesh Prasad, Bake Julius, Sunil Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Sudhir Kumar and Raja Ram were also sentenced to 3.5 years in jail. The court also slapped Rs 5 lakh fine on each.

Also Read | Lalu Yadav’s compromise with BJP would have made him 'Raja Harishchandra', says son Tejashwi Yadav

Earlier in the day, Lalu’s wife Rabri Devi has called an emergency meeting to decide the individual roles for party leaders in likely absence of the RJD chief.

Sentence in #FodderScam to be pronounced at 4 pm pic.twitter.com/isVypcgcyy

— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) January 6, 2018

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and 15 others were convicted on December 23 in a case related to the multi-million-rupee fodder scam by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court.

The CBI special court in Ranchi was expected to award the quantum of punishment for RJD chief Lalu Prasad and 15 others on January 3, but due to the sudden demise of an advocate, the announcement was first deferred to January 4 and then January 5.

However, the court could not pronounce the quantum of punishment on January 5 as well and the sentencing deferred for one more day.