Lalu Prasad  |  Photo Credit: PTI
Ranchi: In a big setback to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, a special CBI court on Monday sentenced him to five years in prison in Rs Rs 139-crore Doranda treasury case related to the fodder scam.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 60 lakh fine on the RJD chief.
Reacting to the court’s order, Lalu’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav said that his father was being targeted while those who are real culprits are roaming free.
He also alleged that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is also facing a murder charge but he is not behind bars.
Speaking exclusively to Times Now, he said, “My father is poor’s leader. He was the one who exposed the fodder scam. Now he is being targeted. Those who are real convicts are roaming free. We will start a Nyay Yatra in the state demanding hustice for Lalu ji.”
“Even CM Nitish Kumar is facing a murder charge but he is not behind bars. What about Srijan scam. I demand a CBI probe against Nitish Kumar,” he added.
Following the court’s order, the RJD chief in a series of tweets said that he had fought and will keep fighting against the BJP-led “dictatorial government”.
Lalu further said that “jail cannot break the spirit” of a person who always follows the path of truth and has the support of people.
“I’m fighting those who make people fight among themselves They cannot defeat that is why they are framing me through conspiracies. Have never scared nor bowed and always fought and I will keep fighting. The cowards have never understood the struggle of the fighters,” he wrote on Twitter in Hindi.
The Chief Minister said that they did not register cases against Lalu Prasad in the fodder scam.
“We have not registered cases against him. The people who are with him now are the only ones who registered cases against him. Those people also came to me but I said no. I said you want to file a case you can do but it’s not my work,” he said.
The court on Tuesday found the former Bihar chief minister and 39 others guilty in the Rs 139.5 crore Doranda treasury embezzlement case, the fifth case against him in the fodder scam.
Soon after the conviction, the ailing 73-year-old politician was shifted to the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi and then he was admitted to the state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS).
The RJD chief has been sentenced to 14 years in jail in four other multi-crore fodder scam cases related to Dumka, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasuries in Jharkhand.
However, he has secured bail in these four cases related to the multi-crore fodder scam and served nearly four years in prison.
The Rs 950-crore fodder scam cases relate to fraudulent withdrawal of public funds from government treasuries in various districts of Bihar.
The RJD patriarch, who had been lodged in jail in Ranchi since December 2017, was released on bail in April last year.
The veteran leader, however, served most of his sentence at the RIMS in Ranchi. He was shifted to Delhi in January last year after his health condition deteriorated.