National News- 45 accused convicted in fodder scam

New Delhi/Jalandhar, September 30, 2013: The Special Judge, CBI, Ranchi (Jharkhand) has today delivered a Judgement in one of the Fodder Scam Cases. In this case, 45 accused facing trial were held guilty U/s 120-B, 420,467,468,477A IPC and  13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of the PC Act 1988.
Eight accused viz.  Vidya Sagar Nishad, the then Cabinet Minister, AHD, Govt. of Bihar; Dhruv Bhagat, the then MLA & Chairman Public Accounts Committee; K.Arumugam, IAS, the then Secretary, AHD, Govt. Of Bihar and private persons i.e Bimla Sharma; Madhu Mehta; Smt. Shiv Kumar Devi; Sunil Kumar Sinha & Rajesh Verma  were sentenced to undergo three years Rigorous Imprisonment with fine ranging fine between Rs.50,000 to Rs.5 lakhs. All these accused persons have been released on provisional bail today. These suppliers had received fraudulent payment of less than Rs.15 lakhs in respect of the fake supplies made by them.
The remaining 37 accused including  Lalu Prasad, the then Chief Minister & Finance Minister, Govt of Bihar; Dr Jagannath Mishra, the then MLA & Leader of Opposition, Bihar Vidhan Sabha;  Jagdish Sharma, the then MLA & Chairman of Public Accounts Committee;   R.K. Rana, the then MLA; Shri Phool Chand Singh, IAS, the then Finance Commissioner;  Mahesh Prasad & Beck Julius, IAS, both the then Secretaries, AHD, Govt. Of Bihar; Adhip Chandra Choudhary, IRS, the then Commissioner, Income Tax, Ranchi; Dr. Kirti Narayan Jha, the then Regional Director, AHD, Ranchi; Dr. Krishna Mohan Prasad, the then Assistant Director, AHD, Ranchi;  Silas Tirkey, the then Treasury Officer, Chaibasa; Braj Nandan Sharma, then District Animal Husbandry Officer, Ranchi; Mukesh Kumar Srivastva, then Asstt Poultry Officer, Chaibasa; Gaya Prasad Tripathi, then M.V.O, Ranchi; Arjun Sharma, then Asstt Poultrry Officer, Chaibasa & Braj Bhusan Prasad, then Budget & Accounts Officer, Patna; Gauri Shankar Prasad, then D.A.H.O, AHD, Ranchi and suppliers i.e Ajit Kumar Verma, Prop. M/s Little oak Pharmaceuticals, Kolkata; Ravi Shankar Sinha, Prop. M/s A Traders, East Patal Nagar, Patna; Tripurari Mohan Prasad, Prop. M/s Bihar Surgico & Partner M/s Manas Sales Corporation; Sushil Kumar, M/s Samarpan Vet & Partner Samarpan House, Patna; Md Sayeed, Partner M/s Chotanagpur Cattle food Supply Co, Ranchi; Md Snaul Haque, Partner M/s Chotanagpur Cattle food Supply Co, Ranchi; Md Ekram,M/s Chotanagpur Cattle   Supply Co, Ranchi; Md Huuian,M/s Chotanagpur Cattle food Supply Co, Ranchi; Md Touheed, Prop M/s Shaad & Co, Ranchi; Vijay Kumar Mallik, Prop, M/s Mallik Enterprises, Delhi; Mahendra Singh Bedi, Prop. M/s Semex Cryogenics, New Delhi; Harish Kumar,Partner M/s Asian Breeders, Palam, New Delhi; Rajan Mehta, Manager, M/s Asian Breeders, Palam, New Delhi; Ajay Kumar Sinha, Prop. M/s Meeta Pharma, Patna; Sanjay Sinha, Prop. M/s Sanjay Sinha, Ranchi; Satendra Kumar Mehra, Prop, M/s Vishal Entrprises, Ranchi; Rabindra Kumar Mehra, Prop M/s Arke Enterprises, Ranchi; Sunil Gandhi, Prop M/s Magadh Distributors, Patna; Dayanand Prasad Kashyap, Partner M/s Baishnav Enterprises, Ranchi; Mahendra Prasad, Defacto Prop M/s S R enterprises, Nalanda, Bihar, have been sent to Judicial Custody. The next date has been fixed on 03.10.2013 for hearing the accused on the quantum of sentence through video conferencing.  
The CBI had registered this case on 27.03.1996 in compliance with direction on 19.03.1996 of Supreme Court of India and took over the investigation of the case which was earlier registered by Chaibasa Police Station (Bihar) vide Case No.12/1996 dated 20.02.1996.
After thorough investigation, chargesheet in this case was filed on 23.06.1997 against 56 accused persons, including then Chief Minister; then MLA, then Cabinet Ministers; IAS Officers; officials of AHD(All of Bihar Govt); IRS Officer; private suppliers & others, alleging fraudulent withdrawal of an amount of Rs.37.70 crores (approx.) from Chaibasa Treasury during the financial year 1994-1995 on the basis of forged & fabricated allotment letters and spurious bills, raised either without effecting the supply of any materials viz Vet. Medicines, Instruments (Artificial Insemination Ket), Yellow Maize and Ground Nut cake etc to District Animal Husbandry Officer of Chaibasa.
Out of a total of 56 chargesheet persons, 07 (Seven) persons i.e the then Regional Director; the then Director, AHD, Patna; the then Manager of Cattle Farm, Saraikela; two then both Cabinet Ministers; two suppliers expired during trial. Two accused i.e one supplier and one then Administrative officer of Animal Husbandry Department Patna were granted pardon after they disclosed the material evidence and were taken as approvers. One accused namely Pramod Kumar Jaiswal, Supplier confessed and was convicted during the trial of the case. One  accused, then Dy. Commissioner of West Singhbhum Chaibasa was discharged by the Hon’ble Jharkhand High Court on the ground of his conviction in another case for similar charges for the preceding financial year.  
The Trial Court today held guilty all the remaining 45 accused persons.
This is 45th Fodder Scam Case having been disposed off from trial at Ranchi.