A special CBI court in Ranchi convicted Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad after he was found guilty on the charges of conspiracy and corruption in the fourth fodder scam case out of the six lodged against him 22 years ago.

The former Bihar CM has been serving a jail term in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Jail after his conviction in two other fodder scam cases as well.

The court also acquitted all five politicians, including former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra, in the case related to a fraudulent withdrawal of Rs. 3.76 crore from the Dumka treasury between December 1995 to January 1996. The court convicted 19 and acquitted 12, out of the 31 accused who faced trial and fixed March 21, 22 and 23 to hear arguments on sentencing.

Prasad’s advocate Prabhat Kumar said, “The court has categorised the convicted persons in alphabetical order and formed three groups each having six convicts. It has fixed three dates allocating each group a single day to hear arguments on the point of sentences. My client’s turn will come on March 22.”

Senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh expressed his sentiments on the verdict and stated that, “Lalu goes to jail while Jagannath Mishra gets bail. It is a conspiracy of BJP and the Narendra Modi government. When they failed to defeat Lalu in politics, they chose different path to crush him.”