My husband has become victim of conspiracy: Rabri Devi

Downcast after Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad's conviction in a fodder scam case, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi Monday said that he has become a victim of opposition conspiracy.

She also said that in his absence, she and her two sons will lead the RJD and work hard to strengthen the party.

"Laluji has become a victim of opposition conspiracy," Rabri Devi told media persons here at her official residence.

She said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had raided her house as well as her relatives' houses but failed to recover any money of fodder scam. "Nothing was recovered from our house, it was a conspiracy to frame Laluji," she said.

"Laluji was sent to jail earlier in the fodder case also but RJD remained united and intact. We are confident that party will go on," she said.

Rabri Devi angrily said that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Janata Dal-United MP Shivanand Tiwari were also involved in the fodder scam but they were not made accused and enjoying the power in the state.

Lalu Prasad, along with former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and 43 others, were Monday convicted in a fodder scam case by a special CBI court in Ranchi.

Special CBI judge Pravas Kumar Singh will announce the quantum of sentence Oct 3 through video conferencing.

Apart from the two chief ministers, ministers from the animal husbandry department, two IAS officials have been accused of fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.37.70 crore from Chaibasa district treasury in then undivided Bihar in the mid-1990s in the multi-million-rupee animal husbandry department scam, popularly known as the fodder scam.