RJD chief Lalu Prasad faces verdict in third fodder scam case today

He has already been convicted in two earlier cases, for which he has received jail sentences.

On January 6, the special CBI court sentenced Lalu to 3.5 year in prison. (File picture)

NEW DELHI: RJD chief Lalu Prasad faces judgement in the third case of the fodder scam on Wednesday. A special CBI court in Ranchi will deliver its verdict in the case that sees another Bihar Chief Minister, Jagannath Mishra, also accused.

This case pertains to the alleged fraudulent withdrawal from the Chaibasa treasury in the early 1990s. An amount of about Rs 33.7 crore was allegedly drawn against a sanction amount of just Rs 7.1 lakh.

Apart from Lalu and Mishra, 54 others are convicted in the case. The judgment is to be pronounced by Judge SS Prasad.

Lalu Prasad has already been convicted in two previous cases in the fodder scam, while Mishra was convicted in the first case.

Lalu Prasad is presently lodged in Ranchi's Birsa Munda jail. He had been convicted in the second fodder scam case on December 23, following which the court had handed him a three-and-a-half year sentence along with a fine of Rs 5 lakh on January 6.

This was his second conviction in the fodder scam, related to the fraudulent overnight withdrawal of about Rs 90 lakh from a government treasury in Deoghar, then in undivided Bihar.

His first conviction had come in September 2013, when the court handed a guilty verdict to Lalu and his predecessor, Jagannath Mishra.

Lalu had received a sentence of five years in the first case. This sentence had made him the first elected official in India to be ejected from office under the then-new changes to the anti-corruption law.

In the run-up to the sentencing in the second case, Lalu's lawyer had filed a leniency plea on the basis of his age and health problems. The lawyer had also argued that Lalu had no direct role in the second case.