Lalu appears before CBI court in the fifth fodder scam case

Jailed RJD president Lalu Prasad appeared before a special CBI court on Thursday in connection with a case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 139.35 crore from Doranda Treasury when he was the Bihar chief minister in the 1990s. This is the fifth and last fodder scam case against Prasad in Ranchi.

There is a sixth case against him in Bhagalpur in connection with the animal husbandry scam, popularly known as the fodder scam. A total 34 questions were asked to Prasad during the trial by the special CBI judge (AHD) Sudhanshu Kumar Shashi in about three hours on Thursday, a CBI advocate told reporters.

He has been convicted in the previous four fodder scam cases and has been ordered prison sentences ranging between three and a half years and 14 years by different special CBI courts. The Doranda Treasury case RC/47 has 575 witnesses and 111 accused, a CBI official said adding the investigating agency has filed charge sheets against 170 people. Prasad, who has been in jail since December 2017, is undergoing treatment for his illnesses at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences here.