Tejashwi Yadav On Fifth Fodder Scam Case Conviction: 'If Lalu Ji Had Shaken Hands With BJP...'

Tejashwi Yadav's response comes as a CBI court on Monday sentenced Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years imprisonment in the fifth fodder scam case.

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New Delhi: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday alleged that his father Lalu Prasad Yadav has been convicted in the fifth fodder scam case because the former Bihar chief minister did not shake hands with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

A CBI court on Monday sentenced Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years imprisonment in the case and imposed a fine of Rs 60 lakhs on him. He was pronounced guilty on February 15.

Tejashwi Yadav on Monday said that this is not the final ruling: "I will not comment on the court verdict. This is not the last judgment. High Court, Supreme court is there. We've challenged it in the High court and we are hopeful that the judgment of the lower court will change in High Court".

"Apart from fodder scam, it seems no scam has happened in the country. In Bihar, almost 80 scams have happened but where is CBI, ED, NIA? In this country there is only one scam and one leader. CBI has forgotten Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi," the RJD leader alleged, as quoted by news agency ANI.

He further targeted the BJP saying, "If Lalu Ji had shaken hands with BJP, he would have been called Raja Harishchandra but today he is fighting against RSS- BJP hence he is facing imprisonment. We'll not get scared with this."

Meanwhile, on cases against Lalu Prasad Yadav, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said: "We've not registered cases against him. The people who are with him now are the only ones who registered cases against him. Those people also came to me but I said no. I said you want to file a case you can do but it's not my work: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on cases against Lalu Yadav".

A special CBI court in Jharkhand's Ranchi found Lalu Yadav guilty of illegal withdrawals of Rs 139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury. 

The former Bihar chief minister has been sentenced in four fodder scam cases.

This case (RC 47A/97) was the fifth and the biggest in which an amount of Rs 139.35 crore was illegally withdrawn.

The Rs 950-crore fodder scam relates to fraudulent withdrawal of public funds from government treasuries in various districts of undivided Bihar.

(With Agency Inputs)