Trouble brews for Lalu as ED registers money laundering case against him

The two cases that the ED has taken over include illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.76 crore from the Deoghar treasury and illegal withdrawal of Rs 34.91 crore from the Dumka treasury. In these cases, the special CBI court had sentenced all the accused in this case on March 19, 2018 and April 9, 2018.

Ranchi: Trouble is brewing for RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was convicted in the fifth fodder scam by a CBI court on Tuesday, as he has now come under the radar of the ED, which has registered a case under the Money Laundering Act while taking over two cases related to the fodder scam of the CBI.

The two cases that the ED has taken over include illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.76 crore from the Deoghar treasury and illegal withdrawal of Rs 34.91 crore from the Dumka treasury. In these cases, the special CBI court had sentenced all the accused in this case on March 19, 2018 and April 9, 2018. Besides Lalu, Prasad Yadav, Ajit Kumar Verma, Arun Kumar Singh, Vimal Kant Das, Gopinath Das, Krishna Kumar Prasad, Manoranjan Prasad, Mahinder Singh Bedi, Nandkishore Prasad, Naresh Prasad, Om Prakash Diwakar, Pankaj Mohan Bhuj, Phoolchand Singh, Pitambar Jha, Radha Mohan Mandal, Rajkumar Sharma alias Raja Ram Joshi, Raghunandan Prasad, Rajendra Kumar Bagaria, and Shardendu Kumar Das are the prominent names.

Property of 13 dead accused to be confiscated: The Enforcement Directorate will also seize the movable and immovable properties of 13 accused found guilty in the fodder scam case, who passed away during the trial. Among them are Bibi Prasad (Budget Officer), Bholaram Toofani (Minister), Chandradev Prasad Verma (Minister), Chhathu Prasad (Treasury Officer), Kalika Prasad Sinha (Accountant), K Arumugam (Secretary), Mahendra Prasad (Supplier), Raghavendra Kumar Das. (Administrative Officer), Rajendra Singh (Animal Husbandry Officer), Ramraj Ram (Director), SN Singh (Animal Husbandry Officer), Shyam Bihari Sinha (Joint Director) and Waseemuddin (Animal Husbandry Officer).

Significantly, the special CBI court in Ranchi had ordered the ED to confiscate whatever movable and immovable property these accused have created after January 1990. Lalu was on Tuesday convicted by a CBI court in Ranchi in the Rs 950 crore fodder scam said to be the biggest scam in the country. Lalu has been convicted in the fraudulent withdrawal case of Rs 139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury.

The CBI court will announce the sentences on February 21. The RJD supremo has been found guilty in five cases registered in the fodder scam. The trial of the sixth case is still going on.