Manish Tewari, Tejashwi and others face contempt charges; Lalu's sentence to be pronounced on Thursday

The special CBI court in Ranchi that on December 23, 2017, convicted former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in one of the Fodder scam cases has issued contempt charges against the latter's son Tejashwi Yadav, the Congress' Manish Tewari, and others for speaking out against the judgment.

WATCH | Ahead Of Finding Out Lalu's Quantum Of Sentence, Rabri Devi Gets Emotional

After Lalu's conviction, Tejashwi had said:

"The BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) see Laluji as a threat to them. People of Bihar have made their mind to go against the BJP and Nitish Kumar and they are standing with Lalu Prasad in support. We are confident that we will get the bail and our morale will never break."

"We will challenge the verdict in the High Court. The process of bail will take place once the High Court is opened. Today's conviction shows a conspiracy by the BJP and Nitish Kumar to defame Lalu Prasad and put him behind bars. This is not the final judgment as we still have High Court and Supreme Court and the final verdict will be given by the Apex Court".

Manish Tewari, meanwhile, had said:

"Lalu Yadav has been fighting this legal battle since 1996. It started when BJP leaders filed PIL against him in Patna HC. He & his lawyers are capable of fighting this case. I want to ask BJP why Srijan scam is not being investigated?"

Shivanand Tiwari and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh face contempt charges for saying after the verdict that if Lalu Prasad was Jagannath Mishra, if he was from the JDU, then he would not have been convicted.

Former Bihar CM Jagganath Mishra had been acquitted in the same verdict that convicted Lalu Prasad.

READ | Lalu compares himself to Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr and Bhimrao Ambedkar -- Paswan disagrees

Meanwhile, Lalu Prasad arrived at court on Wednesday as his quantum of sentence was to be announced. However, the quantum of sentence will now be announced on Thursday on account of the passing away of advocate Vindeshwari Prasad.