39 held guilty, 3 acquitted in fodder scam case

Ranchi, May 30 (UNI) Altogether 39 persons were held guilty and three acquitted by a special CBI court here today in a case of multi-crore rupees fodder scam.

The court of special Judge J N Tiwary acquitted a former regional director Kirti Narayan Jha and two suppliers Mehar Alam and Mahendra Prasad Singh in the case RC 32A/96 related with fraudulently withdrawing Rs 7.21 crores from the Ranchi treasury in 1995.

Among the 39 convicted, 13 were given three years' imprisonment and according to legal provisions they were granted bail. The rest were sent to judicial custody as their verdict would be announced tomorrow.

Altogether 46 people were made accused in the case among which two died, name of one was removed as it was wrongly attached after this fact appeared in the chargesheet and another was convicted earlier after he accepted his involvement in the case.

The multi-crore rupee fodder scam came to light in the nineties and many politicians, including former chief ministers Lalu Prasad and Jagganath Mishra were made accused in the case. Mr Prasad had to resign as CM after his name appeared in the matter.

UNI