A CBI special court sentenced RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Monday to a five-year jail term and slapped a fine of Rs 60 lakh for his conviction in the fodder scam case (RC 47 A/96) related to fradulent withdrawals of funds from the Doranda treasury.

Lalu’s lawyer, Prabhat Kumar, told reporters that they had expected some leniency in the sentencing, given Lalu's failing health and the fact that he had already spent over three years in jail. He said they would approach a higher court to quash the judgement and seek bail.

“We had prayed for leniency... Even in this particular case, Laluji has already spent about 39 months in jail. Since the sentence will run concurrently, as per our calculation, he has spent more than 2.5 years out of the five-year jail term given today. Therefore, we are hoping that there won’t be any problem seekinh bail from a high court.”

Lalu was convicted last week along with other accused in the folder case related to the Doranda treasury. The CBI had originally booked 170 people, but only 99 were on trial until now as some of them had either died or turned approver. Of the 99 convicted last week, the court had pronounced sentences of up to three-year jail terms to 36 accused last week.

The remaining accused were sentenced through virtual mode at 1.30 pm on Monday.

Lawyer Kumar said the maximum sentence given in the Doranda case was of five years. The maximum fine was of Rs 1 crore.

Senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui maintained they were hoping Lalu would get acquitted in the case like the late former CM, Jagannath Mishra. “Great injustice has been done to Lalu. But we respect the court verdict. Our hope now hinges on high courts,” he told reporters outside the CBI court.

Lalu is currently lodged at RIMS Paying ward after he was referred by Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Prison last week. He is expected to remain at the hospital.

The Doranda treasury case involves the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 139 crore in 1995-96 when Lalu was chief minister of undivided Bihar. This was the last case where trial was pending, while in four other fodder scam cases associated with different treasuries Lalu has already been convicted and sentenced.

Lalu has been on bail on health grounds. CBI, which is probing all the fodder scam cases under Lalu’s watch, had pegged the quantum of fraud at Rs 950 crore.