One more fodder case nearing end; CBI waits for court sanction

The CBI is waiting for a court's sanction to examine one more witness in the fodder scam case in which former Bihar chief ministers Lalu Prasad Yadav, Jagannath Mishra and several others were accused of fraudulently withdrawing Rs 36 crore from Deogarh Treasury in the 1990s.

"Investigation into the RC 64 A/96 is almost complete. We have examined more than 200 witnesses. We have already petitioned to the special CBI court of Sitaram Prasad to allow us examine an additional witness in the case to conclude the investigation from our side," a senior CBI official said here today.

He said there were 37 accused, including Lalu and Mishra, in the case.

Lalu, who is now in the Birsa Munda Central Jail after being convicted in the case that pertained to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa Treasury in 1994-95 fiscal, had yesterday appeared before the court through video conferencing in the Deogarh Treasury case.

The RJD president is also appearing in three other fodder scam cases with the RC 47A/96 being the highest alleged fund withdrawal of Rs 184 crore from Doranda Treasury followed by RC 68A/96 (separate Chaibasa Treasury case-Rs 36 crore) and RC 38A/96 (Dumka Treasury-Rs 3.97 crore), the senior CBI official said.