Lalu Prasad moves Jharkhand High Court against sentence

Ranchi, Oct 17: RJD chief

Thursday moved the Jharkhand High Court against the five-year jail term awarded to him by a special CBI court in a fodder scam case, his lawyers said.

The former Bihar chief minister, who has also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs.25 lakh, also moved a bail petition.

"We have appealed in the Jharkhand High Court against the sentence awarded to Lalu Prasad in a fodder scam case. We have appealed for a stay on the sentence and granting bail to him," a lawyer for the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief told reporters here.

The Jharkhand High Court opened Thursday after Durga Puja vacations.

The RJD chief is lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi.

On Sep 30, a Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court convicted Lalu Prasad, another former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra, Janata Dal-United MP Jagdish Sharma and others in a case of fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.37.70 crore from Chaibasa treasury in the then undivided Bihar during 1994-1995 when Lalu Prasad was the chief minister.

Special CBI Judge Pravas Kumar Singh sentenced Lalu Prasad to five years' imprisonment and slapped a Rs.25 lakh fine to him.

The RJD chief is lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi.

The multi-million fodder scam surfaced in 1996. Around 54 of the 61 cases were transferred to Jharkhand when it was carved from Bihar in November 2000. Different CBI courts have passed judgments in more than 43 cases. Lalu Prasad and Mishra are accused in five cases.

IANS