Ex-CBI chief Joginder Singh demands life term for Lalu, end to VIP fawning in jails

An agitated former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Joginder Singh on Thursday said RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav should have been given a life term in jail in the fodder scam case. He also wanted the VIP culture in jails to be stopped.

"I think he is getting free boarding and lodging for the next five years. I think the law needs to be changed. And why should my money be spent on a prisoner if he is capable of paying for himself. The law should be changed and the prisoner should be made to pay for his stay in the jail, it is so in America also. And just jail is not enough," said Singh.

"It is not justified. It should have been life," he added.

Special CBI court in Ranchi had this afternoon sentenced Yadav to five years in prison in connection with the case.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs. 25 lakh on Yadav.

The verdict also disqualifies him from his Lok Sabha membership and bars him from contesting elections for six years, according to a recent Supreme Court order.

Former Bihar Chief Minister Dr. Jagannath Mishra and sitting JD (U) MP Jagdish Sharma were sentenced to four years in prison each in the case. A fine of four lakh rupees has also been imposed against Mishra

Special CBI Judge Pravas Kumar Singh pronounced the quantum of punishment through video conferencing.

Yadav's lawyers earlier argued that he was too old and suffered from many diseases, to counter the CBI's plea for maximum punishment of seven years in jail for the RJD supremo in the fodder scam case.

Lalu and other convicts are currently lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi.

The RJD has decided to challenge the verdict in the Jharkhand High Court.

In all, 45 fodder accused had been convicted in the case and the judge had delivered the sentence against eight of them on September 30 itself.

The fodder scam also known as "Chara Ghotala" involved the siphoning of funds from the Bihar Government treasury.

The alleged theft spanned over several years, and many Bihar state government administrative and elected officials across multiple administrations were allegedly engaged in it.

The fodder scam was unearthed in Bihar in 1996 when Lalu Prasad was the Chief Minister of the state. He had resigned from the post in 1997 after a court issued an arrest warrant against him in connection with one of the cases.