A special CBI court in Ranchi today convicted 48 people in a multi-crore fodder scam case and sentenced eight of them to three years of rigorous imprisonment, besides fine between 20,000 and 40,000 rupees. The case relates to the fraudulent withdrawal of over 8.5 crore Rupees from the Ranchi treasury on the basis of fake bills. The court also acquitted three of the accused in the case.There were total 59 accused in the case, four of whom died during the trial and two turned CBI approvers. One accused was let off due to lack of evidence, while another admitted his guilt.<br/><br/>Special CBI court of S.K Dubey pronounced the judgment today, while the quantum of sentence against the remaining 40 convicted will be pronounced on 15th of this month. The multi-million fodder scam surfaced in 1996 during undivided Bihar. A total of 61 cases were transferred to Jharkhand after it was carved out of Bihar in November 2000. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief Lalu Prasad and former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra are accused in five cases, and the trial is going on in the CBI courts of Ranchi.<br/>