Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad reached Ranchi on Sunday afternoon ahead of a fodder case judgment expected to be delivered by a special CBI court here on Tuesday.

The fodder case (RC 47 A/96), the last of five similar cases, involves the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 139 crore from the Doranda treasury in 1995-96 when Lalu was chief minister of undivided Bihar. Lalu has been convicted in all the other cases and sentenced. He is now on bail on health grounds

The CBI, which is probing all the fodder scam fraud cases perpetrated under Lalu’s watch, has pegged the quantum of defalcation at Rs 950 crore.

Around 2pm on Sunday, Lalu landed at Ranchi airport where he was greeted by a sea of RJD workers. He, however, preferred not to speak to the media there and drove off to the state guest house at Morhabadi where he will be camping till Tuesday.

Former state RJD president Abhay Kumar told the media at the state guest house that the RJD and other supporters of Lalu were praying for his acquittal, expecting that the court would show mercy.

“Considering his age, we are sure that the court will show mercy on our leader. He was wrongly fixed in the case and has already served jail terms in the past. He is currently battling several age related ailments and we are praying that the court takes this into account while pronouncing its judgment on Tuesday,” he said.

The district administration has made elaborate security arrangements at the state guest house. Also, sources said, the state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) had been put on alert. After his conviction in four fodder scam cases, Lalu had spent about year at RIMS from January 2018 before he was referred to AIIMS in Delhi.

A couple of months back, he returned to Patna.