Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday slammed the five-year jail term handed out to his father Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam case, calling it a byproduct of a fight against the BJP and the Sangh Parivar.
“If Lalu Ji would have shaken hands with BJP then he would have been called Raja Harishchandra but today he is fighting against RSS- BJP hence he is facing imprisonment. We'll not get scared with this,” news agency ANI quoted Tejashwi as saying as he reacted to the punishment handed out to his father by a special CBI court.
The Ranchi-based court sentenced Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years' imprisonment and slapped a fine of ₹60 lakh on him in the ₹139-crore fodder scam case.
Also read | Lalu Prasad Yadav gets five year in jail in fodder scam case, fined ₹60 lakh
Tejashwi also refused to give his opinion on the verdict, but said they have challenged the judgement in the high court as he hoped for a reprieve for his father.
{{/usCountry}}Tejashwi also refused to give his opinion on the verdict, but said they have challenged the judgement in the high court as he hoped for a reprieve for his father.
{{/usCountry}}“I will not comment on the court verdict. This is not the last judgment. There is the high court and the supreme court. We've challenged it in the High court and we are hopeful that the judgment of the lower court will change in the High Court,” he further said.
Also read | Lalu Prasad Yadav convicted in fifth and final case of fodder scam: A timeline
Lalu Yadav's son also questioned why the CBI was not going after other scams in the country as he listed names of a few businessmen, including Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, who have been facing trials on fraud charges in separate cases.
“Apart from the fodder scam, it seems no scam has happened in the country. In Bihar, almost 80 scams took place but where are the CBI, ED and the NIA? In a country there is only one scam and one leader. The CBI has forgotten Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi,” he said.
The 73-year-old veteran politician was shifted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, from Hotwar jail following the conviction last week. Lalu Prasad Yadav was earlier sentenced to 14 years in jail in four other cases related to Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries in Jharkhand.