Fodder Scam Judgment Deferred

The CBI court on Thursday deferred the judgment in fodder scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal from Dumka treasury. The order was given after hearing on a petition filed by defence lawyer appearing on behalf of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad requesting the court to pass a suitable order regarding the authorities of the accountant general (AG) for their role during the scam period.

Lalu’s lawyer had on Monday filed a petition before the special court of Shiv Pal Singh under Section 319 of Cr PC requesting for issuance of summons to the authorities of AG. It stated that AG reports from 1991 to 1996 submitted by the accountant general have not whispered any fraudulent withdrawal from the animal husbandry department.

The petitions further stated that report of 1995 was submitted by AG PK Mukhopadhyay. BN Jha was deputy accountant general and Pramod Kumar was senior accounts officer.

During the hearing on the petition on Thursday, CBI lawyer requested the court to deliver the judgment stating that the Supreme Court has directed for disposing of the fodder scam cases by February 6.

After asking a few questions to defence lawyers, the judge stated that decision on the petition under Section 319 CrPC has been deferred till Friday.

There are 31 accused, including former CMs Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra, minister Vidya Sagar Nishad, former chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Jagdish Sharma and Dhruv Bhagat, MLA RK Rana. Besides, former secretaries Beck Julius, PC Singh, Mahesh Prasad, former divisional commissioner MC Subarno, former commissioner Income Tax AC Choudhary and former regional director OP Diwakar were also accused in the case.

The accused are charged under sections 409, 418, 420, 467, 468, 471 477A, 120 B IPC and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The case is related to fraudulent withdrawal of money between December 1995 and January 1996.