Lalu reaches Ranchi, verdict on Saturday

FODDER SCAM CASE

RANCHI, Dec 22: The fate of two former Chief Ministers of Bihar — Lalu Prasad and Jaganth Mishra — will be decided on Saturday in a fodder scam case.

Lalu Prasad, also the Rashtriya Jata Dal (RJD) chief, reached Ranchi on Friday evening, along with his son Tejashwi Yadav to hear the verdict.

Speaking to reporters, he said that he was innocent and that he had “full faith in judiciary”.

Saturday is the last working day of this year. The courts will remain closed till January 1, 2018.

According to a lawyer, hearing in the multi-million fodder scam case, which relates to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 84.5 lakh from Deoghar district treasury, was completed on December 13 in a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court of Ranchi.

Special CBI judge Shivapal Singh fixed December 23 for pronouncing the judgment and asked all the accused to remain present in the court on that day.

In all, there were 34 accused in the case, out of which 11 died during the course of the trial, while one turned CBI approver and admitted the crime. Lalu Prasad and Jaganth Mishra have already been convicted in another fodder scam case and they are out on bail. The trial in two other cases is going on in the special CBI court here.

The trial in three cases of Lalu Prasad and Jaganth Mishra gained momentum in May this year after the Supreme Court directed the special court to complete the trial in nine months.(IANS)