Fodder scam: Ranchi court acquits former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra in Dumka Treasury case

Lalu Prasad, Mishra and others are accused of fraudulently withdrawing Rs. 3.13 crore from Dumka treasury between December 1995 and January 1996.

PATNA: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ranchi on Monday acquitted former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra in the Dumka Treasury case.

The court, on the other hand, convicted former Bihar chief minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in this fourth case related to multi-million rupees fodder scam. On Saturday, the court had deferred the judgemnent in the case.

The special CBI court had on Friday also postponed the judgement in view of the Lalu Prasad's counsel filing a petition under 319 CrPC asking the then three officials of the Accountant General (in the 1990s) be made a party to the case. The court had on Thursday too deferred the judgement in the case.

Lalu Prasad, Mishra and others were accused of fraudulently withdrawing Rs. 3.13 crore from Dumka treasury between December 1995 and January 1996, when the former was the chief minister of undivided Bihar.

Prasad is already serving a jail term of 13.5 years in three fodder cases and lodged in the Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi. The case is related to alleged withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury when Prasad was the chief minister of Bihar. Besides Prasad and Mishra 29 other people, including former IAS officers and some officials were also accused in the case.

On Friday, the Special CBI court had made three former bureaucrats of Bihar accountant-general`s office accused in the fodder scam. The court issued summons to former Bihar Accountant General P.K. Mukhopadhyay, former Deputy Accountant General B.N. Jha and former Senior Director General of Accounts Office Pramod Kumar on the request of Prasad, who had sought a trial against the three former bureaucrats.