FODDER SCAM – CASE ANALYSIS

Author: Grace Deebthee John


Synopsis
Introduction
Background of the case
CBI Investigation
The First Fodder
The Second fodder
The Third Fodder
The Fourth Fodder
The Fifth Fodder
Charges Framed Under
Conviction
Conclusion

INTRODUCTION
A major political and financial scandal that surfaced in India in the 1990s is the fodder fraud case, commonly referred to as the “animal fodder scam. Its main activity is the theft of money intended for the purchase of livestock feed in the state of Bihar. The crime was discovered when politicians, suppliers, and government representatives banded together to fabricate invoices and suppliers in order to defraud the substantial quantity of money. One of the major players involved in the scandal was the well-known former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.
BACKGROUND OF THE CASE
Beginning with small-scale embezzlement by certain government employees who submitted fictitious expense reports, the fraud gradually grew in scope and attracted more participants, including politicians and corporations, until a full-fledged mafia formation. The first chief minister accused of being involved in the scandal was Jagannath Mishra, who led Bihar in the middle of the 1970s.
Then-Comptroller and the then-Auditor General of India, T. N. Chaturvedi, sent a notice of the delayed month’s account submissions to the departments and the state treasury in February. He also wrote to the then-chief minister, Chandrashekhar Singh, warning him that this could be a sign of temporary or embezzlement. This started a long line of more thorough examinations and warnings from principal accountants generals to the Bihar government during the tenures of several chief ministers, but the warnings were handled in a way that was suggestive of a pattern by senior political and bureaucratic officials in it.
A police inspector of the state’s anti-corruption vigilance unit named Bindhu Bhushan Dvivedi presented a report to G. Narayan, the director general of the same vigilance unit, in 1992 detailing the fodder scam and probable chief ministerial involvement. As a form of retaliation, Dvivedi was suspended from his job after being moved from the vigilance unit to another part of the government. The Jharkhand High Court ordered his reinstatement after he later testified in court regarding corruption connected to the fraud.
CBI INVESTIGATION
By looking into 41 incidents that were reported by the State Police and 23 cases that were lodged based on information gathered, such as papers and statements from whistleblowers and former officials, the CBI inquiry brought attention to the problems of corruption in government procurement. The first FIR in the Chaibasa Treasury case was submitted by the CBI on March 27, 1996. In 1997, the CBI filed a chargesheet against then-Chief Minister Lalu Yadav and fifty-five other people after requesting authorization from the Bihar Governor to prosecute them. In accordance with IPC 1860 Sections 420 and 120(b), which define forgery and the penalties for criminal conspiracy. The Prevention of Corruption Act’s Section 13(b) outlines the legislation pertaining to criminal wrongdoing by public servants.
The CBI launched an investigation within days and submitted a case to the High Court alleging that politicians and officials in Bihar were preventing access to papers that showed a connection between the commercial mafia, politicians, and bureaucrats. Bihar Legislative Council lawmakers responded by accusing the court of being misinformed by the CBI and filing a privilege motion to discuss potential action against senior CBI officials at the regional headquarters. This action could resemble a contempt of court proceeding and cause the investigation or even prosecution of the named CBI officials to be delayed. On the other hand, U.N. Biswas, the regional CBI probe, continued, and discovered connections to Laloo Prasad Yadav, the then-chief minister of Bihar. On May 10, 1997, the CBI formally requested that the federally appointed governor of Bihar bring charges against Yadav. Laloo was also prosecuted for the deception by an income tax investigation.
Lalu Prasad Yadav’s political career took a major turn for the worse after he was implicated in the Fodder Scam. Following the CBI chargesheet, the opposition called for his resignation as Bihar’s chief minister, and he founded the RJD in 1997. After he was replaced by the Chief Minister and his wife Rabri Devi, who secured the vote of confidence to establish the government, he later resigned.
First fodder
In February 2002, the first trial got underway. A total of 170 people were charged, of whom 55 died, seven turned themselves in as government witnesses, six ran away, and two agreed to the accusations. Lalu was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty in 2013 of stealing Rs 37.7 crores from the Chaibasa treasury; however, in December of the same year, the Supreme Court granted him release. He was barred from participating in the Lok Sabha election.
Second Fodder
In the second scam case in 2017, the special CBI court held him guilty of unlawfully withdrawing Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar treasury in December of that year. In another case, he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and fined Rs ten lakh.  Later in 2021 after half of his sentence he was released on bail. Jagannath Mishra was no found guilty.
The Third Fodder
Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted and given a five-year prison sentence for taking Rs 33.13 crores from the Chaibasa treasury fraudulently.

The Fourth Fodder
The unlawful removal of Rs 3.76 crores from the Dumka treasury, which occurred between December 1995 and January 1996, led to Lalu’s conviction by the Special CBI Court. This was the fourth conviction for Lalu Prasad in the Fodder Scam case.
The Fifth Fodder
In his fifth conviction, Lalu Prasad was found guilty of embezzling Rs 139.35 crore from the Doranda Treasury in Ranchi. convicted of stealing from the Doranda Treasury and sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of Rs 60 lakh.
This was the fifth and last time Lalu Yadav was accused of being a part of the Fodder Scam. Two separate Chaibasa Treasury cases resulted in Lalu Yadav being sentenced to seven years in prison: five years for unlawfully taking money out of the Dhumka Treasury and four years for unlawfully taking money out of the Deoghar Treasury. Each of the four cases has seen Lalu Yadav finish half of his sentence.
Charges Framed Under
Lalu Prasad Yadav was found guilty under Section 120 B, Section 409,Section 420,Section 467,Section 468, Section 471, Section 477A of Indian Penal Code 1860 and Section 13 of The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Section 120B of IPC grants punishment of criminal conspiracy the punishment are divided into two forms in first no express provision in the code exists for the punishment of a conspiracy to commit an offence punishable to death life imprisonment for a term of two years or more, the person would be punishment in the same manner as if he had abetted such an offence.
In other situations of conspiracy the punishment is either imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both.
According to Section 409, a public servant, banker, merchant, or agent who violates the law in their capacity as a property owner faces a life sentence or a term of imprisonment of any kind that can last up to ten years, in addition to a fine.
Section 420 Cheating and Dishonestly inducing delivery of property : it states whoever cheats or dishonestly induces the person deceived to deliver any property or even alter or destroy the whole property of  which is signed or sealed and capable of converting into a  valuable security shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine.

Section 467 Forgery of valuable security, will, etc.
Anybody who forges a document that may be a will, valuable security, a document authorising the adoption of a son, document grafting someone the right to create or transfer valuable security, a document authorising someone to receive the principle interest or dividends, a document authorising someone to deliver movable property document that is falsified to be a receipt acknowledging the payment of money shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Section 468 Forgey for the purpose of cheating : whoever commits forgery with the intention to cheat shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend  to seven years, and shall be liable to fine.
In this case the accused was held guilty of offences under Section 467,468 and Section 120B of IPC 1860.
Section 471 of IPC any one suspected of using the forged document  as a genuine document shall be punished in the same  manner as if he had forged  such a document ,the document may exist in electronic record or document .
Section 477A states about the Falsification of the Accounts : it primarily refers two types of offences, Deceiving, manipulating, destroying ,mutilating, or fabricating any book, account or electronic record, and  Deception, manipulation, destruction, mutilation, or fabrication of any electronic record, book, or account. This two offences are not related to one another; they are separate. The penalty is either a fine, a term of imprisonment of any kind up to seven years, or both.

The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988
Section 13 of the Act criminalizes  criminal activity by a public servant is said to commit criminal misconduct if he dishonestly or fraudulently misappropriated or otherwise converts for his own use any property under his control as a public servant, or if he intentionally enriches himself illicitly during the period of his office.
If a person, or someone acting on his behalf, has or has had property or financial resources that are out of proportion to his known sources of income and that the public servant is unable to adequately account for, it is considered that he has intentionally and illegally enriched himself. According to section 13, criminal misconduct has a minimum sentence of four years in jail and a maximum sentence of ten years, in addition to a fine.
CONVICTION
Of the fifty-three cases, forty-four had gone to trial as of May 2013.Over 500 defendants have been found guilty and given penalties by different courts. Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad, former lawmaker Rabindra Kumar Rana, and former Legislative Assembly member Dhruv Bhagat are among the most well-known offenders.

On September 30, 2013, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Jagannath Mishra, and forty-four other defendants were found guilty by a Special CBI Court in Ranchi. Thirty-seven individuals were placed under judicial detention. For Lalu and Jagannath Mishra, the court has imposed sentences of five and four years, respectively.


CONCLUSION


The 1990s saw the revelation of the multibillion-dollar Animal Husbandry Department Fraud, also referred to as the fodder scam, in which it was claimed that animal feed was transported on trucks and lorries bearing the registration numbers of scooters and motorbikes. One of the earliest instances of sitting politicians being found guilty and forced to leave their posts in the Assembly and Parliament was this one.
The court found Laloo Prasad Yadav guilty of fraud after conducting a thorough investigation and study of the scheme. He was also sentenced to a number of penalties for each of his offenses. The case brought to light serious problems with government system corruption and poor administration. Several people were convicted as a result of the legal processes, including Lalu Prasad Yadav, the former chief minister of Bihar, who received a prison sentence for his involvement in the scandal. The case’s aftermath led to governance changes and heightened public spending scrutiny in an effort to stop future occurrences of this kind. An important illustration of the difficulties in battling corruption in Indian public administration is the Fodder Scam.

FAQS


1. What is the Fodder Scam?
The Fodder Scam, also known as the Animal Fodder Scam, was a massive political and financial scandal that came to light in the 1990s. It involved the embezzlement of government funds meant for livestock feed in Bihar. Government officials, politicians, and suppliers conspired to fabricate invoices and siphon off large sums of money.


2. Who were the major individuals involved in the scam?
The key individuals implicated in the scam included:
– Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Chief Minister of Bihar. 
– Jagannath Mishra, another former Chief Minister of Bihar. 
– Other politicians, bureaucrats, and suppliers were also involved in the scandal.


3. What triggered the investigation into the Fodder Scam?
The scam was initially exposed by whistleblowers, auditors, and anti-corruption officials. 
– In the 1970s, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) raised concerns over delayed account submissions, which hinted at embezzlement. 
– A 1992 report by Bindu Bhushan Dwivedi from the anti-corruption vigilance unit provided evidence of the scam and probable involvement of the Chief Minister. 
– The case gained momentum after the intervention of the Jharkhand High Court and the subsequent involvement of the CBI.


4. What role did the CBI play in the investigation?
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted an extensive probe into the scam by:
– Investigating 41 cases reported by the State Police and filing 23 additional cases. 
– Filing the first FIR on March 27, 1996, against Lalu Prasad Yadav and others. 
– Collecting evidence, including forged documents and statements from whistleblowers and officials. 
– Filing charges under various sections of the IPCand the Prevention of Corruption Act.


5. How many cases were filed under the Fodder Scam?
A total of 53 cases were registered as part of the Fodder Scam. Of these, 44 cases went to trial, resulting in over 500 convictions.

6. What are the notable convictions in the Fodder Scam?
Prominent convictions include:
– Lalu Prasad Yadav: Sentenced multiple times for embezzlement across various treasury cases, including Chaibasa, Dumka, and Doranda. 
– Jagannath Mishra: Convicted in some cases but acquitted in others. 
– Other officials and bureaucrats were also found guilty and sentenced.


7. What charges were framed against Lalu Prasad Yadav?
Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted under:
– Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC): Sections 120B (Criminal Conspiracy), 409 (Criminal Breach of Trust), 420 (Cheating), 467 (Forgery of Valuable Security), 468 (Forgery for Cheating), 471 (Using Forged Documents as Genuine), and 477A (Falsification of Accounts). 
– Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988: Section 13, which deals with criminal misconduct by public servants.
– Section 13 (Prevention of Corruption Act): Imprisonment between 4 to 10 years and a fine for public servants found guilty of criminal misconduct.

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