On Monday, the Supreme Court held that Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav will face trial in the remaining cases pertaining to the Rs 950-crore fodder scam. Out of the 64 cases files relating to the scam, the former chief minister of Bihar had been convicted in one of the six cases in which he was named as accused, leading to his disqualification from Parliament and a ban from contesting elections for six years.
In 2014, the Jharkhand High Court had ruled that Lalu Prasad cannot be tried for the same crime twice as he was convicted earlier. In light of the latest ruling, as long as Lalu Prasad is under trial, he will remain debarred from contesting elections.
People soon took to social media with their two cents on the case, and discussions were rife as to how long the trial will go, what actions should be taken, who will succeed the RJD leader, what this would mean for the party, and many expressing their elation or disappointment with regard to the case.
The fodder scam is a large-scale embezzlement of government funds in the guise of purchasing and supplying cattle fodder over a period of 20 years. Though it came to fore in 1996, it goes all the way back to 1985, when the then CAG T.N. Chaturvedi followed the trail of delayed account submissions from the Bihar treasury and falsified records of expenses to non-existent companies. What started then as a small-scale siphoning of government funds snowballed into the multi-crore infamous fodder scam case. This particular skeleton in Lalu Prasad's closet refuses to go away despite several attempts to quash the case for over two decades.
A timeline of the case:
January 1996: The scam is brought to the public eye after the offices of the Animal Husbandry Department in Chaibasa district (now in Jharkhand) is raided, and documents showing the siphoning of funds are seized.
March 11, 1996: The Patna High Court directs the CBI to probe the scam. The Supreme Court upholds the same.
March 27, 1996: The CBI registers an FIR in the Chaibasa Treasury case.
June 23, 1997: The CBI chargesheets the then CM Lalu Prasad Yadav and 55 others as accused in the case. Sixty-three cases were registered under IPC Sections 420 (forgery) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) and Section 13 (b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
July 30, 1997: Lalu Prasad surrenders before a CBI court, names his wife Rabri Devi as CM before being sent to judicial custody.
April, 2000: Charges framed before the special CBI court. Rabri Devi’s name included as co-accused. Both Lalu Prasad and Rabri surrender to CBI court. Lalu's bail plea is rejected while Rabri is granted bail.
October 5, 2001: SC transfers the scam cases to Jharkhand after the formation of the new state.
February, 2002: Trial begins in the Ranchi special CBI court.
December 2006: Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi given clean chits in the disproportionate assets case, acquitted of charges.
March 2012: The Special CBI court frames charges against Lalu Prasad and former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 47 lakh from the treasuries at Banka and Bhagalpur districts against forged and fake bills.
September 30, 2013: Special CBI judge Pravas Kumar Singh pronounce judgment convicting Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra, along with 45 others.
December 2013: SC grants bail to Lalu Prasad, who has spent two months of his five-year sentence behind bars.
November 2014: The CBI challenges the order of the Jharkhand High Court quashing pending fodder scam cases against Mr. Prasad on the grounds that a person convicted in one case could not be tried in similar cases based on same witnesses and evidences.
July 2016: Files relating to fodder scam goes missing.
May 2017: SC holds that Lalu Prasad, Jagannath Mishra and other accused will be tried separately in each of the cases related to the scam.
