The Hindu : National : Court summons Lalu in new case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 22, 2007
ePaper

National

National

Court summons Lalu in new case

Special Correspondent

Pertains to case on withdrawal from Dumka treasury

NEW DELHI: The Rs. 950 crore fodder scam continues to cast its shadow on Railway Minister Lalu Prasad. Earlier this week the Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court in Ranchi summoned him in a new case.

The case pertains to the alleged fraudulent withdrawal of about Rs. 1.45 crore from the Dumka treasury in 1996-97 when the scam surfaced in Bihar, jolting a number of politicians and bureaucrats.

Mr. Lalu Prasad and 13 others, including the former Bihar Chief Minister, Jagannath Mishra and the former State Animal Husbandry Minister, Vidya Sagar Nishad, have been asked to appear before the Special CBI court on November 23.

Mr. Prasad is also an accused in six other ongoing fodder scam cases which relate to the larger conspiracy behind district-wise overdrawal from the Treasury against the allotted budget of the State Animal Husbandry Department (AHD).

The case in the Ranchi court is in its last stage of arguments by the prosecution; 39 prosecution witnesses have been examined and the statements of the accused also recorded. The court felt that impleading Mr. Prasad and the others in the case was necessary as a number of points had been raised which needed further investigation by the CBI.

The court’s direction came after Mahendra Prasad, one of the key accused who had already pleaded guilty, gave his account of the scam. Sources in the CBI said that already many of the points raised by the court have been taken into account by the agency in the six fodder scam cases – five in Ranchi and one in Patna – which deal with the conspiratorial aspects of the mind boggling scam.

The modus operandi in the fodder scam cases in which a high ranking AHD official Shyam Bihari Sinha, the kingpin who has since died, revealed during the CBI probe, was simple. Send a forged letter from Patna to districts about the AHD annual budget allotment, overdraw the money for the so-called purchase of animal feed, equipment and veterinary medicines which largely remained on paper and distribute the money among the chain of politicians, officials and suppliers.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National