69 convicted in fodder scam

Ranchi, May 3 (IANS) A CBI court Thursday convicted 69 people and acquitted 16 in the multi-crore fodder scam. Twenty-nine people have been sentenced to one to three years imprisonment and fined between Rs.25,000 and Rs.2 lakh.

The quantum of sentence against the others will be pronounced on May 7.

The court announced its judgment on case RC 31 A/96 relating to the fraudulent withdrawal of over Rs.45 crore from the Doranda treasury here in the early 1990s

There were 111 accused in Animal Husbandry Department scam (also known as the fodder scam). Some of the accused had died during long the trial and many others had turned Central Bureau of Investigation approvers.

Former Bihar chief ministers Lalu Yadav and Jaggnath Mishra are accused in five cases related to the scam. Their trial is on in CBI courts in Ranchi. Yadav had to quit as the chief minister in 1997 after an arrest warrant was issued against him.

The fodder scam hit the headlines in the 1990s in undivided Bihar, when officials and politicians were accused of illegally withdrawing crores of rupees of public money in the guise of purchasing cattle fodder.

A total of 61 cases were filed in the scam and 53 were transferred to Jharkhand after the new state was carved out of Bihar in 2000.

Different CBI courts in Ranchi have passed judgments in 41 cases.