How many times has Lalu Prasad Yadav been to jail in the fodder scam?

Lalu Prasad Yadav, the 73-year-old leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), has been jailed for 5 years in the Rs 139.35 crore Doranda Treasury case. He has also been fined Rs 60 lakh in the case. The case is one of several fodder scam cases labelled against the former Bihar CM. Lalu was convicted on February 15, 2022, by CBI Court Ranchi and was sent to Hotwar jail. The sentence on the quantum of punishment in the case came on Monday afternoon.

The two-and-a-half-decade old fodder scam case saw Lalu going to jail a number of times. In March 2018, he was handed the severest punishment so far in the case. He was sentenced to 14 years in jail while being convicted in the Dumkar, Deoghar and Chaibasa treasury scams in Jharkhand.

The scam, which was first uncovered in 1996, saw huge embezzlement of state funds in the name of buying livestock and supplying fodder. Huge sums of money (around Rs 950 crore) were withdrawn from animal husbandry treasury from 1991-1996 when Lalu Prasad was the Chief Minister of Bihar.

Fake bills were made out by the Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) officials for the non-existent livestock. Loads of money were illegaly withdrawn from the state funds in the garb of payment of fodder, medicines and animal husbandry equipment. The scam showed the nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and other officials.

But, this was a scam that existed even before Lalu came at the helm of affairs in Bihar. Lalu just continued it.

HOW LALU LANDED IN THE MESS

It was first noticed in 1985 by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India TN Chaturvedi who had found that the Bihar treasury submitted montlhy account later than the due date.

In January 1996, Deputy Commissioner of Chaibasa, Amit Khare raided the AHD and found several documents which showed illegal withdrawal of huge sum of money by bureaucrats and politicians. It uncovered a whole nexus between officials and suppliers in the fodder scam.

In March 1996, Patna High Court got the CBI to look into the fodder scam. CBI registered an FIR in the Chaibasa (now in Jharkhand) Treasury case.

In June 1997, BJP state chief Sushil Kumar Modi filed a petition in the Patna High Court after which the agency started the investigation.

On July 30, 1997, Lalu Prasad Yadav was named in the charge sheet with Jagannath Mishra, along with 55 others, by the CBI. 

How many times did Lalu Prasad Yadav go to jail in the fodder scam cases?

• Lalu went to jail for the first time in the case for 135 days. Since then, he has gone to jail at least 6 times relating to the convictions in the fodder scam. On July 25, 1997, he was served an arrest warrant and he had to relinquish his Chief Minister (CM) post. He had transferred the post to his wife, Rabri Devi. He stayed in the jail for around four months before he was granted bail.
• Next, Lalu went to jail on October 28, 1998 for 73 days.
• On April 5, 2000, Lalu went to jail in the disproportionate assets case where he stayed in jail for 11 days. Rabri Devi, being the CM of the state, got him bail within one day.
• In October 2000, Lalu once again had to go to jail for one day in the disproportionate assets case.
• In March 2012, the CBI court framed charges against Lalu and former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra among others. In September 2013, Lalu, Mishra and 45 others were convicted in the Chaibasa Treasury case which involved the withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury. In one of the five cases of fodder scam against him, Lalu is sentenced for five years. He was disqualified as a Lok Sabha member and was also debarred from contesting polls. However, Lalu got bail within three months.
• In December 2017, the CBI court convicted Lalu in the second illegal withdrawal of money in the Deogarh Treasury case. Lalu went to jail. The court, however, acquitted Jagannath Mishra.
• In March 2018, the RJD supremo was sententenced to rigorous punishment of 14 years in the fodder scam and fined Rs 60,00,000.
• In April 2021, Lalu got bail in the Dumka Treasury case by the Jharkhand High Court and walked out of jail. But on February 15, 2022, he was again convicted in the Doranda Treasury case and sent to Hotwar Jail in Ranchi.

WHERE IS LALU?

After his conviction on February 15, 2022, Lalu had sought permission to be shifted to the Ranchi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS). The RJD leader is said to be suffering from chronic kidney disease, hypertension and diabetes. In fact, ever since his judicial custody since 2017, Lalu has been in and out of RIMS and Delhi AIIMS because of his severe health issues. Since his conviction in 2017, Lalu has spent 31 months in hospital and eight in prison, a Times of India report said.

At the Birsa Munda Jail in Hotwar, Lalu is in the upper division category (a status accorded to VIPs).