NDTV's Sreenivasan Jail talks to Lalu's son Tejaswi about the case
A hotel room in Ranchi became this week a temporary war room for the family and lawyers of Lalu Prasad, sentenced to five years in prison in the 12-year-old fodder scam.
He also loses his membership in Parliament.
His son and political heir Tejaswi, who is leading the efforts for Lalu's legal defence, told us that his father is innocent and they will appeal the higher court against his conviction.
But the CBI's chargesheet claims to contain enough evidence against the former Chief Minister of Bihar.
The bulk of the CBI's case against Lalu is that as Chief Minister he attempted to suppress evidence of corruption in the Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) and protect key officials involved.
The particular case in which Lalu has been sentenced relates to the withdrawal of Rs 37 crores by the AHD in Ranchi in 2006, money which the CBI claims was drawn to buy supplies for fictitious cattle and poultry and which was redistributed back to a network of politicians and officials. Totally five cases have been registered against Lalu.
The CBI claims that within Lalu's first year as Chief Minister, in 1990, his AHD minster Ram Jeevan Singh put a detailed note before him, asking for a CBI probe into financial irregularities in the AHD department in Ranchi, where animals were shown to be transported in autos, scooters, and cars.
Lalu instead ordered a vigilance enquiry.
But even that was diluted, after former Chief Minister Jagganath Mishra wrote to the CM asking for a more diluted enquiry. The CBI claims that's because KN Jha, the Regional Director AHD Ranchi and one of the suspects, was a relative of Mishra. The CM forwarded those letters to the Vigilance Bureau, which the CBI claims was the end of the enquiry.
As demands mounted for a more detailed probe, Lalu, the CBI says, kept deflecting it, saying the matter was referred to the Assembly's Public Accounts Committee. But in a reflection of the wide ranging political nexus behind the scam, both PAC heads, Jagdish Sharma, from the JDU, and Dhruv Bhagat of the BJP were also charged by the CBI for stalling an enquiry.
In January 1996, the Additional Financial Commissioner of Bihar, sent a note saying excess withdrawals in the AHD department was grounds for registering criminal cases against AHD officials.
Lalu instead said criminal cases be registered against lower rung officials, known as Drawing and Distribution Officers.
Lalu's defenders argue that as chief minister, the animal husbandry department was just one amongst many for him.
But the CBI claims this doesn't hold much water, pointing to his links to many of those charged in the scam, like mastermind Shyam Bihari Sinha, the Regional Director of the Animal Husbandry Department in Ranchi. He was one of the authorised visitors to the CM's children in Bishop West Scott Girls School Ranchi.
Lalu is also said to be close to another key accused, Ram Raj Ram, Director AHD, Patna, for whom he wrote four letters of recommendation.
Lalu is alleged to have made another key accused, RK Rana, Janata Dal MLA the President of the Bihar Veterinary Association.
Tejaswi says that as CM his father may have known many people, but that doesn't mean he was favouring them.
But perhaps the most damning are the CBI's allegations that Lalu had close links even to fodder scam contractors and took favours from them.
In Lalu's daughter's admission in Bishop West Scott Girls School, Ranchi, the referee was an employee of one of the main accused supplier Mohammed Sayeed.
In October 1995, another accused supplier SP Verma purchased air tickets for Lalu Prasad and his family.
Lalu's defenders claim that all of this still doesn't prove he was bribed. For that the only proof we could find in the chargsheet are statements by two of the approvers - Dipesh Chandok, one of the main fodder scam contractors and RK Das, an officials in the Animal Husbandry department.
In their statements before the magistrate, they say "huge amounts were paid to Lalu Prasad by Shyam Bihari Sinha through RK Rana, Lalu's trusted lieutenant."
Chandok separately said "once on the eve of JD leadership election in 1988-89, SB Sinha offered Lalu two polythene bags containing about Rs 5 lakhs in the presence of RK Rana and RK Das."
In June 1992, Chandok said he "accompanied SB Sinha to Delhi and an amount of Rs 1 crore was given to Rana for the CM."
Lalu's lawyer, Chittaranjan Sinha claims that these are false claims made by those who turned approver to escape punishment.
Those claims will now be tested in the higher court as Lalu's legal team gets ready to move in appeal.