Ranchi : Former Jharkhand Chief Secretary Sajal Chakraborty’s sentencing in a fodder scam case was deferred by a day on Tuesday as judicial work in the district courts was suspended due to the death of a former Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice.

The district courts were closed for the day after mourning the death of former High Court Chief Justice Bhagwati Prasad on Sunday.

Chakraborty was convicted in a fodder scam case on November 14 by the Special CBI court here and remanded in judicial custody.

He was convicted in the multi-million dollar Animal Husbandry Department case, popularly known as the fodder scam, related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37 crore from the Chaibasa treasury, a lawyer had said.

The senior Indian Administrative Service officer was the Deputy Commissioner of West Singhbhum (Chaibasa) at that time but did nothing to prevent the fraudulent withdrawal of money, the prosecution had said.

He was also accused of accepting a laptop from fodder suppliers to remain silent over the fraudulent withdrawals from the treasury.

Sajal was appointed the Jharkhand Chief Secretary in October 2014 and removed from the post in January 2015.

—IANS