A special CBI court in Ranchi pronounced former Bihar chief minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav guilty in a fodder scam case on Saturday.
He was taken into custody immediately after the verdict was announced. The court has set January 3 as the date for sentencing.
Lalu and another former Bihar chief minister, Jagannath Mishra, had been accused along with 20 others of illegally withdrawing nearly Rs 90 lakh from the Deoghar treasury between 1991 and 1994. Mishra was acquitted in the case on Saturday.
Of the other accused, 16 have been convicted with Lalu on Saturday.
Before the verdict, Lalu declared that he had full faith in the judicial system. Earlier on Saturday, Lalu appealed to his supporters to maintain peace, irrespective of the nature of the verdict. Lalu faces three other cases related to the fodder scam.
In October 2013, Lalu was convicted in another fodder scam case and was sentenced to five years in jail and disqualified from Parliament. However, he was granted bail by the Supreme Court later that year.
The first charge-sheet in the scam was filed in October 1997.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate has filed a charge-sheet against Lalu's daughter Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar over a case of money laundering related to the purchase of a farmhouse.
(With agency inputs)
