Lalu Prasad to appear before Patna CBI court in fodder scam case

The Banka-Bhagalpur treasury withdrawal is the only fodder scam case under trial in Bihar as five others were registered in Jharkhand

Rashtriya Janata Dal national president Lalu Prasad, currently on bail after completing half of his sentence in a fodder scam case, is likely to appear before the special CBI court in Patna on Tuesday in a case of fraudulent withdrawal of funds from treasuries in Banka and Bhagalpur districts between 1993 and 1996, when he was the chief minister of Bihar.

Sunil Kumar, CBI’s counsel said that Lalu Prasad physically appeared before the court in the fodder scam case last on June 6, 2017. (ANI Photo/File)

According to the FIR, Lalu cleared the forged bills amounting to ₹47 lakh as state finance minister despite the sanctioned budget for purchasing veterinary medicines being just ₹1 lakh.

On November 16, the court of the special CBI judge-cum-ADJ XII, Prajesh Kumar, ordered Lalu among three accused, including Nagendra Pathak and Prakash Kumar Lal, to physically appear before it on November 23 after only 16 of the 28 accused appeared before the court . It also directed CBI to clarify how many accused had died and how many were still alive.

The Banka-Bhagalpur treasury withdrawal is the only fodder scam case under trial in Bihar as five others were registered in Jharkhand.

Lalu Prasad, former CM Jagannath Mishra, former animal husbandry department minister Vidya Sagar Nishad, former member of legislative assembly (MLA) Jagdish Sharma, R K Rana, retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officials Beck Julius, Phoolchand Singh, Adhip Chandra Chaudhary and Mahesh Prasad, the then animal husbandry department regional director F Kerketa and O P Diwakar of Bhagalpur and Banka divisions, respectively, were among the 28 accused the court took cognisance of in the Banka-Bhagalpur treasury case.

In March 2012, the special CBI court framed charges against the 28 accused, who were then put on trial. While death of some of the accused including Jagannath Mishra and Vidya Sagar Nishad was public knowledge, the court has asked CBI to submit a status report on all of them.

Sunil Kumar, CBI’s counsel said that Lalu along with Jagannath Mishra had physically appeared before the court last on June 6, 2017.