Bihar fodder scam files go missing, FIR lodged; BJP slams JD(U)-RJD alliance, seeks explanation

Patna: Three important files pertaining to the fodder scam, in which former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and several others faced conviction, have now gone missing, said reports on Wednesday.

According to ANI, the files have disappeared from Bihar Animal and Fisheries Resources Department’s office in Patna.

An FIR has been lodged at old secretariat police station of Patna in connection with the missing files.

Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav has been convicted in the 17-year-old fodder scam case that dates back to his days as Bihar’s chief minister, and had faced immediate disqualification as a member of Parliament under a Supreme Court judgement in 2013.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) targeted Chief Minister and JDU leader Nitish Kumar for the missing files, as JD(U) is in power in Bihar in alliance with RJD and Congress.

The scam pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of public money worth Rs 950 crore from the treasuries of undivided Bihar under the head of the animal husbandry department (AHD) from 1990 onwards.

The withdrawals were carried out on the basis of fake bills and vouchers for buying feed, fodder and medicine for livestock by AHD officials in connivance with suppliers and the top layer of the state’s bureaucracy and politicians cutting across parties, including the RJD, Congress, JD(U) and the BJP.

Some CBI sleuths preferred to refer to it as “treasury scam” instead of fodder scam.