Fodder scam: Court defers verdict to March 19

Ranchi's special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court has deferred the verdict in the fourth fodder scam involving Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav to March 19.

Earlier March 15 had been fixed for the verdict. A special CBI court in Ranchi heard the case the same day and reserved the order.

Accepting Lalu Prasad Yadav's plea, Ranchi's CBI Special Court on March 16 issued summons to then Accountant General PK Mukhopadhyay and two other officers in the case.
 
"We filed a petition on Monday asking the Attorney General office officials to be made accused in the case too. Both parties argued in the Court. The order has been reserved and it will be pronounced tomorrow. After that the date of judgement will be fixed," Lalu Yadav's lawyer Prabhat Kumar had said.

The fodder scam was first unearthed in the 1990's by the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General when it noticed that invoices from the Bihar treasury would always come in late. 

The case involves the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from December 1995 to January 1996 from the Dumka treasury.

Lalu, who is accused in a total of six fodder scam cases, has been found guilty in three fodder scam cases so far.

The RJD chief is currently serving a 3.5-year jail term in Ranchi's Birsa Munda jail after being found guilty (in a fodder scam case) on December 23, 2017. 

An earlier conviction in 2013 for five years had made him ineligible to stand for elections for six years. 

He was pronounced guilty in the third fodder scam on January 24.