Indian government ally jailed 5 years for long-running scam

Lalu Prasad Yadav would serve five years of "rigorous" imprisonment and was fined $40,000.


Reuters October 03, 2013
Lalu Prasad Yadav would serve five years of "rigorous" imprisonment and was fined $40,000. PHOTO: AFP

NEW DELHI: An Indian court sentenced a powerful ally of the ruling Congress party to five years in jail on Thursday for siphoning off state funds, underlining that public disgust with corruption is finally catching up with the nation's politicians.

Arvind Singh, joint secretary of the bar association in the eastern city of Ranchi who was in the court, told Reuters that Lalu Prasad Yadav would serve five years of "rigorous" imprisonment and was fined $40,000.

The sentence means that Yadav will lose his seat in the lower house of parliament, making him the first lawmaker to be hit by a Supreme Court ruling that convicts may not sit in legislatures even during an appeal.

Yadav, a former railways minister, was convicted along with dozens of others earlier this week for his part in a 1990s animal fodder racket in the poverty-plagued eastern state of Bihar in which millions of dollars went missing.

COMMENTS (8)

raj | 10 years ago | Reply

@ashar: yes yes i am aware.... we expect such people to be heroes of pakistan...no surprise there....... extremism at its best :)

np | 10 years ago | Reply @ashar: People who call those who killed 40000 fellow countrymen as stakeholders can be expected to call those who killed 166 neighbouring civilians as heroes. Remeber as you sow, so shall you reap.
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ