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India corruption: Laloo Prasad Yadav jailed for five years | India corruption: Laloo Prasad Yadav jailed for five years |
(35 minutes later) | |
Former Indian railways minister Laloo Prasad Yadav has been sentenced to five years in prison in a notorious case known as the "fodder scam". | |
He was jailed on Monday after being found guilty of embezzling state funds intended to buy food for cattle while he was Bihar state chief minister. | |
He has always denied the allegations. His family has said he will appeal. | |
The sentencing is seen as a landmark step in tackling corruption in India where it is a major national issue. | |
Yadav now becomes one of the first politicians to lose his parliamentary seat after a recent Supreme Court ruling which bans convicted legislators from holding office. | |
On Wednesday, the government withdrew a controversial order which would have overturned the Supreme Court ruling and allowed convicted MPs to run for elections while appeals were pending. | |
Delivering its judgement on Thursday, the special court in Ranchi in the eastern state of Jharkhand also ordered Yadav to pay a fine of 2.5m rupees ($40,481; £24,938). | |
He is among 45 people, including senior bureaucrats and politicians, who have been convicted by the court. | |
The scandal involved embezzlement of 9.5bn rupees ($151m; £94m) meant for buying cattle fodder. | |
The case first came to light in 1996, a measure of how long it can take for justice to be delivered in India. | |
Another former Bihar chief minister, Jagannath Mishra, was also convicted on Monday and has been sentenced to four years in jail. | |
Laloo Yadav is one of India's most colourful politicians. He leads the Rashtriya Janata Dal party in Bihar and has long been an ally of India's Congress party-led coalition government in Delhi. | |
He resigned as chief minister of Bihar after the allegations of corruption arose. His wife Rabri Devi was installed in his place. | |
Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal party lost power in state elections in 2005. |