Lalu sentence deferred again; tells CBI judge It’s biting chill inside jail

mangaloretoday News Network

Ranchi/Patna, Jan 04, 2018 : The Special CBI court hearing the fodder scam on Thursday deferred pronouncement of jail sentence of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and 15 others by one more day.

 

The quantum of punishment will now be known on Friday as CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh on Thursday heard the pleas of convicts in alphabetical order.

Lalu, whose name starts with L, has been asked to reappear in court on Friday. The former Bihar chief minister was thereafter repatriated to Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi.

An apparently unperturbed Lalu, reportedly told the CBI judge that "it was biting chill inside the jail". Ranchi has been experiencing a chilly winter for the last one week with minimum temperatures in the Jharkhand capital hovering between seven and nine degrees celsius.

Lalu is also believed to have told the judge that he was innocent and had done no wrong. "I am also a law graduate," Lalu told the CBI judge, who convicted him on December 23 in one of the fodder scam cases - RC 64A/96, related to fraudulent withdrawal of around Rs 90 lakh from Deogarh treasury.

Refuses video conference

The judge then asked the RJD chief whether he would like the quantum of punishment to be pronounced through video conferencing (when in jail). Lalu said: "No Sir, I will be present in the court whenever you order so."

The CBI judge then asked Lalu to come on Friday as his name was lower down in the list of accused prepared in alphabetical order.

Thereafter, amid tight police security, Lalu was shifted to Birsa Munda jail in Hotwar, on the outskirts of Ranchi.



courtesy:DHNS