The court also slapped varying penalties ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 7 lakh. (Representational)

A special CBI court in Ranchi has sentenced 16 fodder scam convicts to three to four-year prison terms in a case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37 crore from the Chaibasa treasury in the 1990s.

The court of SN Mishra also slapped varying penalties ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 7 lakh on the convicts in connection with the case, defence counsel Sanjay Kumar said.

RJD president Lalu Prasad is among 44 accused who was earlier convicted in the case in 2013. Lalu Prasad is serving prison term in Ranchi after conviction in cases of multi-crore fodder scam.

Those awarded jail term today include former treasury messenger and technical assistant Lal Mohan Gope, ex-account assistant of the treasury Bharat Narayan Das and ex-assistant accountant of the treasury Sahadeo Prasad, all employees of the Chaibasa treasury when the scam was unearthed, the counsel said. The rest were suppliers, he added.

The CBI had filed a supplementary charge sheet against 20 people as they had not been included in the original list of accused after not getting sanction, the lawyer said. While one person is absconding, three others died during trial, the counsel said.

On September 30, 2013, a total 44 accused, including former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad, had been convicted in the same case.

Thereafter, Mr Prasad was convicted in three other fodder scam cases, with maximum 14 years sentence he got in one of the cases. He is facing trial in a fifth fodder scam case in Ranchi.