By IANS,
Ranchi : A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in the Jharkhand capital Wednesday awarded four to seven years of rigorous imprisonment to 16 convicts in the multi-million rupee fodder scam in Bihar’s animal husbandry department.
Special CBI judge Pankaj Kumar also slapped fines between Rs.50,000 and Rs.500,000 on the convicts in the case regarding fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.110.9 million (Rs.11.09 crore) from the Doranda treasury of Ranchi in the early 1990s.
The CBI court had Tuesday convicted 48 accused for withdrawing the amount by producing fake bills and nine convicts were awarded three-year imprisonment.
Remaining convicts would be sentenced Thursday.
Sixty-one cases were lodged by the CBI in relation to the fodder scam, which surfaced in 1996. Of them, 53 were transferred to Jharkhand after it was carved out of Bihar in November 2000.
According to CBI sources, government officials swindled more than Rs.9.5 billion in the name of fodder with help of fake suppliers and politicians.
Till now, special CBI courts have pronounced their judgements in 30 cases and more than 230 accused have been convicted.
Former railways minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra were accused in five fodder scam cases.