Lalu nailed in second fodder scam case, jailed for 8th time
RJD Boss Calls It Conspiracy Of ‘Casteist Minds’
Jaideep Deogharia & Sanjay Sahay TNN
Ranchi: Bitter over his second conviction in a fodder scam-related case, RJD boss Lalu Prasad pinned his continuing legal ordeal on Saturday on a conspiracy of “casteist minds” and likened himself to Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Babasaheb Ambedkar, who had to suffer because of their fight to change the “unjust order”. “Powerful people and powerful classes always managed to divide society into ruling and the ruled classes. And whenever anyone from the lower hierarchy challenged this unjust order, they would be deliberately punished,” Lalu posted on Twitter. This is the eighth time Lalu has gone to jail.
CBI judge Shivpal Singh convicted Lalu and 15 others for fraudulently withdrawing ₹89 lakh meant for the animal husbandry department from the Deoghar treasury between 1991 and 1994 when Lalu was the CM.
ED charges Misha and her husband
On a day when former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad was convicted, the Enforcement Directorate filed a chargesheet against his daughter Misha Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar in a money laundering case. The two had been questioned several times during the course of the investigation in the last six months. P10
Lalu’s colleagues talk of conspiracy
The money was withdrawn from the Deoghar treasury between 1991 and 1994 when Lalu Prasad was the chief minister of Bihar and also held the charge of the finance portfolio.
“Had people like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Babasaheb Ambedkar failed in their efforts, history would have treated them as villains. They still are villains for the biased, racist and casteist minds. No one should expect any different treatment,” said another tweet by Lalu.
Colleagues of Lalu, a key Congress partner, also talked of a conspiracy while commenting on the verdict which acquitted former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and five others. “The layman is asking why it is jail for some and freedom for others,” said senior RJD functionary Abdul Bari Siddiqui. “It is baffling how the BJP and JD(U) had predicted the verdict. This has created confusion among the people also,” Siddiqui said.
Lalu’s younger son and political successor, former Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, was present in the packed courtroom when the special judge announced the order.
Lalu and others found guilty will remain in Birsa Munda Jail here till January 3 when the court will spell out the quantum of punishment. Those convicted on Saturday include former MPs Jagdish Sharma and R K Rana; IAS officers Beck Julius, Phoolchand Singh and Mahesh Prasad, and government officials Krishna Kumar and Subir Bhattacharya.
The conviction shows that the fodder scam, like the proverbial bad penny, keeps coming back to trouble the RJD strongman. Lalu, who was convicted along with Jagannath Mishra in another fodder scam-related case, was out on bail. He is facing trial in three other cases related to the same mega-swindle involving embezzlement of money belonging to the animal husbandry department by a nexus of politicians, officials of the department and suppliers. The latest setback came after RJD failed to convince the Supreme Court that Lalu, having already been convicted once, cannot be tried multiple times as all the cases against him arise from the same “conspiracy”.
The loot which began on a small scale in the late 1970s grew in scope and had acquired industry-level dimensions by the late 1980s and early 1990s. The expansion was facilitated by the involvement of powerful politicians and brass of the animal husbandry department, indifference and timidity of IAS officers who knew about the sordid goings-on but kept silent as well as the shrewd choice of terrain by the masterminds.
The money embezzled was sought to be spent on what now constitutes Jharkhand but which, before being hived off Bihar, was supposed to be the pasture of the Patna-based elite — something which fuelled the movement for division of the state.
But as the size and sense of impunity grew, so did the brazenness of those involved and the stink which eventually reached a diligent young IAS officer, Amit Khare, who was then deputy commissioner of Singhbhum district, headquartered in Chaibasa. A routine inspection of records took the lid off the scandal, leading to dramatic disclosures about Lalu’s collusion just when the RJD boss, after his spectacular victory in the 1995 elections, was being seen as a possible PM candidate.PILs by BJP and JD(U) politicians led the court to order a CBI probe and Lalu had to quit as CM in 1997 after he was charged by CBI, something which he blamed on the conspiracy by his Janata Dal colleagues — former PM H D Deve Gowda, Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan. “The legal fight will continue,” Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told reporters outside the special CBI court in Ranchi. He said besides fighting it legally, the party would also go to the people to “fight it politically”.
The fresh setback can have only limited the fallout on Lalu who, barred from contesting elections after his first conviction, has passed on the mantle to Tejashwi. He continues to enjoy support among fellow Yadavs and Muslims and, therefore, will continue to draw support from “secular forces” arrayed against BJP.
Congress, which once sought to distance itself from Lalu because of his “corrupt image”, now sees him as a valuable partner. Rahul Gandhi, who was once said to be uncomfortable with the Yadav chieftain and tore the “ordinance” which had been brought by the Manmohan Singh government to save the RJD chief from being disqualified, appears to have changed his stance. In fact, former President Pranab Mukherjee recently disclosed to TOI that he had refused to sign the ordinance and sent it back to the government before Rahul dramatically articulated his opposition to the controversial legislation.
RJD Boss Calls It Conspiracy Of ‘Casteist Minds’
Jaideep Deogharia & Sanjay Sahay TNN
Ranchi: Bitter over his second conviction in a fodder scam-related case, RJD boss Lalu Prasad pinned his continuing legal ordeal on Saturday on a conspiracy of “casteist minds” and likened himself to Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Babasaheb Ambedkar, who had to suffer because of their fight to change the “unjust order”. “Powerful people and powerful classes always managed to divide society into ruling and the ruled classes. And whenever anyone from the lower hierarchy challenged this unjust order, they would be deliberately punished,” Lalu posted on Twitter. This is the eighth time Lalu has gone to jail.
CBI judge Shivpal Singh convicted Lalu and 15 others for fraudulently withdrawing ₹89 lakh meant for the animal husbandry department from the Deoghar treasury between 1991 and 1994 when Lalu was the CM.
ED charges Misha and her husband
On a day when former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad was convicted, the Enforcement Directorate filed a chargesheet against his daughter Misha Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar in a money laundering case. The two had been questioned several times during the course of the investigation in the last six months. P10
Lalu’s colleagues talk of conspiracy
The money was withdrawn from the Deoghar treasury between 1991 and 1994 when Lalu Prasad was the chief minister of Bihar and also held the charge of the finance portfolio.
“Had people like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Babasaheb Ambedkar failed in their efforts, history would have treated them as villains. They still are villains for the biased, racist and casteist minds. No one should expect any different treatment,” said another tweet by Lalu.
Colleagues of Lalu, a key Congress partner, also talked of a conspiracy while commenting on the verdict which acquitted former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and five others. “The layman is asking why it is jail for some and freedom for others,” said senior RJD functionary Abdul Bari Siddiqui. “It is baffling how the BJP and JD(U) had predicted the verdict. This has created confusion among the people also,” Siddiqui said.
Lalu’s younger son and political successor, former Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, was present in the packed courtroom when the special judge announced the order.
Lalu and others found guilty will remain in Birsa Munda Jail here till January 3 when the court will spell out the quantum of punishment. Those convicted on Saturday include former MPs Jagdish Sharma and R K Rana; IAS officers Beck Julius, Phoolchand Singh and Mahesh Prasad, and government officials Krishna Kumar and Subir Bhattacharya.
The conviction shows that the fodder scam, like the proverbial bad penny, keeps coming back to trouble the RJD strongman. Lalu, who was convicted along with Jagannath Mishra in another fodder scam-related case, was out on bail. He is facing trial in three other cases related to the same mega-swindle involving embezzlement of money belonging to the animal husbandry department by a nexus of politicians, officials of the department and suppliers. The latest setback came after RJD failed to convince the Supreme Court that Lalu, having already been convicted once, cannot be tried multiple times as all the cases against him arise from the same “conspiracy”.
The loot which began on a small scale in the late 1970s grew in scope and had acquired industry-level dimensions by the late 1980s and early 1990s. The expansion was facilitated by the involvement of powerful politicians and brass of the animal husbandry department, indifference and timidity of IAS officers who knew about the sordid goings-on but kept silent as well as the shrewd choice of terrain by the masterminds.
The money embezzled was sought to be spent on what now constitutes Jharkhand but which, before being hived off Bihar, was supposed to be the pasture of the Patna-based elite — something which fuelled the movement for division of the state.
But as the size and sense of impunity grew, so did the brazenness of those involved and the stink which eventually reached a diligent young IAS officer, Amit Khare, who was then deputy commissioner of Singhbhum district, headquartered in Chaibasa. A routine inspection of records took the lid off the scandal, leading to dramatic disclosures about Lalu’s collusion just when the RJD boss, after his spectacular victory in the 1995 elections, was being seen as a possible PM candidate.PILs by BJP and JD(U) politicians led the court to order a CBI probe and Lalu had to quit as CM in 1997 after he was charged by CBI, something which he blamed on the conspiracy by his Janata Dal colleagues — former PM H D Deve Gowda, Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan. “The legal fight will continue,” Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told reporters outside the special CBI court in Ranchi. He said besides fighting it legally, the party would also go to the people to “fight it politically”.
The fresh setback can have only limited the fallout on Lalu who, barred from contesting elections after his first conviction, has passed on the mantle to Tejashwi. He continues to enjoy support among fellow Yadavs and Muslims and, therefore, will continue to draw support from “secular forces” arrayed against BJP.
Congress, which once sought to distance itself from Lalu because of his “corrupt image”, now sees him as a valuable partner. Rahul Gandhi, who was once said to be uncomfortable with the Yadav chieftain and tore the “ordinance” which had been brought by the Manmohan Singh government to save the RJD chief from being disqualified, appears to have changed his stance. In fact, former President Pranab Mukherjee recently disclosed to TOI that he had refused to sign the ordinance and sent it back to the government before Rahul dramatically articulated his opposition to the controversial legislation.
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