A CBI court on Thursday framed charges against former Bihar Chief Ministers, Mr Lalu Prasad, and Mr Jagannath Mishra and 32 others in connection with the multi-crore fodder scam in Bihar.
The designated CBI Judge Mr V.K. Srivastava framed the charges in presence of the Raahtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo, Mr Mishra and 34 others, including former RJD MP Mr R.K Rana and present ruling Janata Dal (United) MP, Mr Jagdish Sharma.
The charges were framed under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), 120(B) (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine), 477 (A) (falsification of accounts), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the IPC and section 32 (read with 13 (1) c d of Prevention of Corruption Act.
The case relates to fraudulent withdrawals of around Rs 46 lakh by officials of the State Animal Husbandry Department from the Banka and Bhagalpur treasuries through fake enforced bills between 1994 and 1996 when Mr Prasad was the Chief Minister.
The CBI had filed the chargesheet in the case on March 31, 2003, and the court had taken cognizance on April 30 the same year.
Mr Prasad alleged that he had been falsely implicated in the case and the “CBI had not procured the Governor's sanction for prosecution in the case”.