A Delhi court on Friday framed charges against Bihar’s former Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged land-for-jobs scam, Live Law reported.
The case centres on allegations that between 2004 and 2009, when Yadav was the Union railway minister, land was illegally acquired at reduced prices in exchange for appointments to Group-D positions in the Indian Railways.
The Central Bureau of Investigation filed its chargesheet in the matter on October 10, 2022, naming Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi, among several others.
On Friday, Special Judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Courts said that Yadav and his family acted as a criminal syndicate, Live Law reported.
“The court finds on the touchstone of suspicion that there existed an overarching conspiracy by Lalu Prasad Yadav towards using public employment as a bargaining chip for receiving immovable properties for his family (daughters, wife and sons),” the legal news portal quoted the judge as saying.
Gogne added that the chargesheet filed by the central agency indicated Yadav’s close associates were also facilitated as conspirators. He rejected the petition for discharge filed by Yadav and his family, saying that it was completely unwarranted.
A total of 103 persons had been named as accused in the case by the Central Bureau of Investigation, of which five have died, The Indian Express reported.
Of the remaining 98, the court on Friday discharged 52. These included the Group-D railway substitutes who had not parted with their land and railway officials.
However, charges were framed against the remaining persons accused in the matter, including Devi and Yadav’s son, Tejashwi Yadav.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has alleged that land parcels were transferred to Yadav’s family members, including his wife and daughters Misa Bharti and Hema, at prices significantly below the market value. Those who transferred the land parcels to Yadav’s family were allegedly given jobs in return.
The transfers to Yadav’s family led to them acquiring more than one lakh square feet of land for just Rs 26 lakh, compared to a circle rate of more than Rs 4.39 crore, the probe agency has alleged.
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