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Synopsis

The CBI held Lalu Prasad Yadav held responsible for the appointment of Patna residents, who sold land at highly discounted prices to his family members, to Group D posts within the railways. These appointments were made without proper advertisements or notices being issued to the public. Most of these appointments took place in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.

The RJD leader had however denied these allegations, accusing the central government of manipulating investigative agencies.

The father-son trio were summoned to Rouse Avenue Court first on September 18, 2024. At the time, the accused along with Yadav’s daughter, Misa Bharati, and his wife, Rabri Devi, had been named in the ED’s chargesheet. Taking cognizance of this, the court had observed that Lalu had cited curbing public unemployment as one of his goals upon becoming Railway Minister.

While listing the matter for October 7, the court also noted that Tej Pratap Yadav’s involvement could not be ruled out, since he was a member of a company, AK Infosystems, that was named in the chargesheet. It was alleged by the ED that AK Infosystems had bought 11 land parcels and transferred these to Lalu Yadav’s family for a price of Rs. 1 lakh, despite their value amounting to Rs. 1.89 crore.

The company also reportedly acquired properties in the name of Lalu Prasad and his family members, at a price that was much lower than their market rate.

In its chargesheet, the CBI had levelled serious allegations against  Lalu Prasad Yadav. They claimed that most of the candidates appointed to these disputed positions were from districts in Bihar where Yadav’s family had “political financial interest.” The CBI also claimed that the RJD Chief had “suddenly” repaid a director-promoter with a sum of Rs. 1.35 crore in 2017. This occurred after an Income Tax raid on him.

In March 2023, Tejaswi Yadav was first implicated in the land-for-jobs scam by the CBI, but he refused to appear before them, stating, “I am Deputy CM Bihar, four portfolios, they are calling me here, my budget session is going on. They can call me at the Patna CBI office or can let me join through video conferencing. I come to Delhi for one day, three summons are served on me. My wife is pregnant.” Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma of the Delhi High Court, after hearing the submissions of the CBI that the Budget Sessions are not held on Saturdays, directed Yadav to appear before the CBI on any Saturday of the month.

Lalu Prasad Yadav’s close aide, Amit Katyal, was granted bail by the Delhi High Court in June 2024, citing medical grounds. The bench of Justice Dharmesh Sharma held that he needed a “proper diet in order to attain adequate physical, mental and psychological well- being for at least a period of 3 or 4 months". However, Special Public Prosecutor Zoheb Hussain, representing the ED, argued that Katyal had already been granted interim relief on medical grounds and should not repeatedly seek such relief.

Katyal had, according to the investigative agencies, held illicit transactions by manipulating company shares and registered addresses while projecting them as legitimate. He used company balance sheets to conceal liabilities and proceeds of crime.

However, the father and son trio repeatedly denied these allegations and expressed that they “have faith in the judiciary.”

[Inputs: Indian Express]