Lalu gets over 3 years in jail

Lalu Prasad’s wife Rabri Devi in Patna after the verdict. (PTI)

Vijay Deo Jha, TT,  Jan 076, 2018, Ranchi: Lalu Prasad was sentenced to three-and-a-half years' rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 10 lakh in a fodder scam case here on Saturday, the three-plus-year term making it necessary for him to move the high court if he wants bail.

The former Bihar chief minister, who watched the proceedings live through videoconferencing from a Ranchi jail, was handed two three-and-a-half-year sentences under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, which will run concurrently.

His counsel Prabhat Kumar said Lalu Prasad would move the high court for bail and also challenge the conviction, handed last month. Kumar felt that the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief should have been given a shorter sentence because of his poor health.

The sentence means the 69-year-old cannot contest elections for another nine-and-a-half years, that is, till mid-2027. He had in 2013 been sentenced to five years in another fodder case - barring him till 2024 -but later challenged the conviction and received bail. He faces four more fodder cases, three in Ranchi and one in Patna.

The 15 other convicts were on Saturday sentenced to terms ranging between three-and-a-half and seven years.

Special CBI judge Shivpal Singh suggested that all the 16 convicts be sent to open jail, and appeared to crack a joke at their connection with fodder.

"I recommend that you all go to open jail and rear cows. All of you are aged people and experienced in cow-rearing," he said.

"In an open jail you can meet and stay with your families and serve cows too. What you earn there by rearing cows you should donate to the public exchequer."

Jail sources said the government decides who goes to an open jail. Usually, those who have served two-thirds of their term and have behaved well throughout are considered.

During investigations and the trial, Lalu Prasad had spent 113 days in judicial custody, which will be deducted from his sentence, a lawyer said.

"If he fails to deposit the fine, he'll face an additional year of simple imprisonment," CBI lawyer Rakesh Prasad said.

A senior CBI official said the agency had expected Lalu Prasad to be sentenced to at least five years.