- Former Bihar Chief Ministers Lalu Prasad Yadav and Jagannath Mishra have been called by the special CBI court of Ranchi on 14th of this month.
- The Court called them to record their statements in case related to illegal withdrawals of nearly Rs. 38 crores from Chaibasa treasury during 1994 to 95.
- Out of 54 cases of 950 crores rupees fodder scam, 41 cases have been heard, and more than 100 convicts have already been sentenced.
What is this fodder scam?
- The Fodder Scam was a corruption scandal that involved the embezzlement ofabout 950 crore (US$190 million) from the government treasury of the eastern Indian state of Bihar. Among those implicated in the theft and arrested were then Chief Minister of Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav, as well as former Chief Minister, Jagannath Mishra. The scandal led to the end of Laloo's reign as Chief Minister.
- The theft spanned many years, and allegedly involved numerous Bihar state'sadministrative and elected officials across multiple administrations of theIndian National Congress and the Janata Dal parties. The corruption scheme involved the fabrication of "vast herds of fictitious livestock" for which fodder, medicines and animal husbandry equipment was supposedly procured. Although the scandal broke in 1996, the theft had been in progress, and increased in size, for over two decades.Besides the magnitude and duration of the theft, the scam was and continues to be covered in Indian media due to the extensive nexus between tenured bureaucrats, elected politicians and businesspeople that it revealed, and as an example of the mafia raj that has penetrated several state-run economic sectors in the country.
