The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday filed a chargesheet against Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti in a money laundering case, PTI reported. The agency also named Bharti’s husband Sailesh Kumar and many others in the chargesheet, which it filed in a Delhi court.
The move comes the day a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation in Ranchi is expected to pronounce the verdict in the second of six cases in Bihar’s fodder scam, in which Lalu Prasad Yadav is an accused.
On September 5, the Enforcement Directorate had attached a farmhouse in South Delhi’s Bijwasan in connection with this investigation. The farmhouse, which is in the name of suspected shell company M/s Mishail Packers and Printers Private Ltd, was attached provisionally under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The agency said it was bought using Rs 1.2 crore laundered in 2008-’09.
Bharti and Kumar are being investigated for allegations that they acquired benami ownership of land at subsidised rates. A benami property is one bought in an individual’s name, though the real beneficiary is someone else.
In July, the Enforcement Directorate raided three properties in New Delhi that allegedly belong to the couple. If convicted, they face up to seven years in jail and a heavy fine under the Benami Transactions Act. They are accused of having links with the suspected shell company.
In May 2017, the agency arrested chartered accountant Rajesh Agarwal for his alleged involvement in the money laundering racket worth Rs 8,000 crore. Agarwal’s arrest was also connected to an investigation by the Income Tax Department into dubious land deals worth Rs 1,000-crore linked to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family.
In July, the CBI registered a case against Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejaswi Yadav on allegations of corruption during his tenure as railway minister in 2006. The investigative agency had raided more than 12 locations, including their houses in Delhi, Gurugram, Patna, Ranchi and Puri.
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