Fodder scam: 34 get 1 to 6 years

Ranchi, May 5 (IANS) A CBI court Saturday awarded one to six years imprisonment to 34 people in a multi-million animal husbandry department scam known as the fodder scam.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court of D.C. Ray also slapped fines of Rs.10,000 to Rs.300,000 on the convicts.

The case relates to the illegal withdrawal of more than Rs.6 crore from the Doranda treasury in Ranchi in the 1980s.

Of the 34, 12 are animal husbandry department officials and 16 are fodder suppliers.

There were 54 accused in the case, of which 17 died during the trial, one turned approver for the CBI while two are absconding.

A CBI court Thursday convicted 69 people in another case related to the fodder scam.

Former Bihar chief ministers Lalu Prasad and Jaggnath Mishra are among the accused in five cases related to the scam.

Their trial is on in CBI courts in Ranchi. Lalu Prasad had to quit the chief minister's post in 1997 after an arrest warrant was issued against him.

The fodder scam hit the headlines in the 1990s in Bihar where officials and politicians were accused of embezzling crores of rupees of public money.