Fodder scam: 35 sentenced to prison

RANCHI - Thirty-five convicts in a case related to the multi-crore-rupee fodder scam were Saturday sentenced to imprisonment ranging from six-four years and slapped fines of up to Rs.2 crore by a special CBI court in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi.

Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge of R.R. Tripathy Friday pronounced judgment in the case revolving around fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.8.37 crore from a government treasury in Chaibasa city in the garb of providing fodder for cattle.

Of the 61 accused, three were acquitted and 23 were awarded sentence of three years earlier.

The court Saturday sentenced the remaining 35 convicted people to six-four rigorous imprisonment (RI) and slapped fines on them.

A six-year RI was awarded to former regional director of animal husbandry Junual Bhengraj. The court also slapped a fine of Rs.2 crore on him.

Five other convicts were awarded five-year RI and a fine of Rs.1 crore each.

The multi-crore rupee scam surfaced in 1996 before Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar.

A total of 61 cases were transferred to Jharkhand after it was created in November 2000. Special CBI courts have so far passed judgments in 32 cases.

Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief Lalu Prasad and former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra are accused in five cases and trial in the cases are going on in CBI courts of Ranchi.