IAS officer acquitted in fodder scam

Ranchi, Aug 3 (IANS) The Jharkhand High Court Friday acquitted a senior IAS official who was convicted and sentenced to jail in the Animal Husbandry Department scam, popularly known as the fodder scam.

A single bench of Justice R.R. Prasad acquitted Sajjal Chakravarty in the scam.

The officer had moved the high court against the conviction and sentence last year. The court had reserved judgment in March and delivered the order Friday.

The case was related to the fraudulent withdrawal of crores of rupees from Chaibasa treasury in the 1990s. Chakravarty was charged with accepting a laptop as a bribe.

A special CBI court in 2008 had sentenced him to four-and-a-half years in prison. He was also suspended by the Jharkhand government on the basis of the conviction.