An Indian court yesterday convicted Lalu Prasad Yadav, whose party is an ally of ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, in a corruption case that disqualifies him from Parliament membership and contesting for at least six years.
Another 44 accused, including former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, six politicians and four Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, were also convicted by the court of Pravas Kumar Singh in Ranchi, for fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from government treasury in what has come to be known as fodder scam.
The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment for Yadav, who heads Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and the others on October 3. The case was filed against Yadav 17 years ago.
Immediately after the court verdict, Yadav was taken to a high-security jail.
The RJD chief faces immediate disqualification as Lok Sabha member under a recent Supreme Court order that a lawmaker would stand disqualified immediately if convicted by a court for crimes with punishment of two years or more and under some other laws even without jail sentence.
The court has found Yadav guilty in just one of the cases against him — that of criminal conspiracy, corruption and cheating. The judgement in the other five cases is awaited.
Yadav, who was the chief minister of Bihar state, had to resign following the uncovering of the scam. He came to Ranchi following a court order that Ranchi had the jurisdiction of the case.
Yadav had moved the Supreme Court pleading shifting of his case from the court of Pravas Kumar Singh on the ground of political conspiracy, a plea which was rejected by the apex court, paving the way for the first judgement against him.
There were a total of 56 accused in the fodder scam case. But during the trial, seven accused died, two turned approver, one admitted to the crime and one was discharged.
Source: The Daily Star