By IANS

Ranchi : A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Thursday awarded four to five years imprisonment to six accused in one of the cases relating to 1996 multimillion rupee fodder scam in Bihar.

The special CBI court of Manoranjan Kavi passed the sentence in a case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.550,000 from the Pakur treasury between 1995 and 1996. The court had convicted the six accused April 30.

It awarded two of the accused, Vimalkant Das and Braj Bhushan Prasad, five years' imprisonment and a fine of Rs.100,000. Both were employees of the animal husbandry department (AHD).

The court awarded four other convicts four years' imprisonment and fines of Rs.50,000 each. They are Sushil Kumar, D.C. Trivedi, P.N. Jha, and T.M. Pradsad. Besides Prasad, who was a supplier, all the others are AHD employees.

There were a total of nine accused in the case. The court acquitted two of them in the absence of evidence and one died during the trial.

The investigation in the scam was handed over to the CBI at the order of the Patna High Court. The scam saw fraudulent withdrawal of millions of rupees from the state exchequer by officials in the AHD. A total of 63 cases were registered and 41 were transferred to Jharkhand after it was carved out of Bihar in November 2000.

Till now the CBI court has passed judgment in 14 cases and more than 130 accused in different cases have been awarded punishment of two to six years' imprisonment.

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and former Bihar chief minister Jagganth Mishra have also been accused in five cases. They were sent to jail three times. Lalu Prasad had opposed the transfer of cases from Bihar to Jharkhand.