By IANS
Ranchi : A Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Tuesday sentenced 11 people to varying prison terms for their involvement in a fodder scam in which millions of rupees were embezzled from the treasury of Bihar state before bifurcation.
Judge Manoranja Kavi announced the quantum of sentence for those convicted for the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.5.5 million from the Godda treasury of present day Jharkhand.
Diwakar Prasad, former regional director of Dumka, and Ajit Kumar Sinha, former treasury officer of Godda, were awarded seven years imprisonment. The other nine got four-year jail terms.
A Rs.100,000 fine has also been imposed on all the convicts, defaulting which they will have to serve an additional six months in jail.
There were total 15 accused in the case. One died during trial of the case two were acquitted and one turned approver of the CBI. Of the 11 convicted, six are government officials and rest are suppliers.
The multimillion-rupee fodder scam surfaced in 1996 and the investigation was handed over to CBI at the order of the Patna High Court. A total of 63 cases were registered in the scam and 41 were transferred to Jharkhand after it was carved out from Bihar in November 2000.
The CBI has filed a charge sheet in almost every case and trail is under progress. Till now the special CBI court has passed judgment in 17 cases and nearly 220 accused in different cases have been awarded punishment of two to seven years imprisonment.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and former Bihar chief minister Jagganth Mishra are accused in five cases.