2 Jul 2009, 0353 hrs IST

India News: NEW DELHI, India: Sixteen people out of the total 48 convicted in one of the multi-crore fodder scam cases have been sentenced by a CBI special court.

Kirti Narayan Jha, then Regional Director of Animal Husbandry SC Range, Ranchi was sentenced to six-year RI with a fine of Rs 8 lakh while Junul Bhengraj, then Regional Director, AHD, Ranchi was sentenced to seven years' RI and slapped a fine of Rs 50 lakh, a CBI spokesperson said.

The court also sentenced K.M. Prasad, Assistant Director (Planning) AHD, Ranchi with seven years' RI and fine of Rs 34 lakh and B.B. Prasad, Budget and Account Officer, AHD Directorate Patna with six years' RI with fine of Rs 20 lakh, the spokesperson said.

He said the CBI had filed a charge sheet in the Ranchi court against the 56 accused.

"Out of them, three died during trial, two accused persons pleaded guilty and they were punished earlier and three accused were made approvers. The court had on Tuesday convicted 48 accused persons facing trial," he said.

The case relates to Doranda, Ranchi Treasury where the accused AHD officials, in criminal conspiracy with suppliers, treasury officials and others fraudulently withdrew an amount of over Rs 11 crore during a span of 11 days, on the basis of forged and fabricated allotment letters, purported to have been issued by the AHD Directorate, Patna.

This is the 31st Fodder Scam Case so far disposed of in trial at Ranchi, the CBI official said.