A court in Delhi’s Patiala House Courts complex on Friday granted bail to all the accused, including former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, in a case related to the alleged Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation scam, ANI reported. They have to furnish a personal bond and surety amount of Rs 1 lakh each.
The court issued a production warrant against Lalu Prasad Yadav for October 6. Lalu Prasad Yadav on Thursday surrendered to a Central Bureau of Investigation court in Ranchi a week after the Jharkhand High Court refused to extend the provisional bail granted to him. He has been convicted in at least four cases related to the fodder scam, and was granted bail on medical grounds in May.
Apart from Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav, a chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate last week had also named former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Union minister Prem Chand Gupta and his wife Sarla Gupta, a company Lara Projects (earlier known as Delight Marketing Private Limited), and 10 others.
The case relates to alleged irregularities in a tender awarded to a private company called Sujata Hotels to develop and operate two railway hotels in Ranchi and Puri in 2005, when Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Union railways minister. In return, he allegedly received a three-acre plot, worth Rs 45 crore, through a benami company owned by the wife of an RJD MP.
The Enforcement Directorate registered a criminal case against the accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act based on a First Information Report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in April. The CBI had also filed a chargesheet against Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and son, and 11 others in the case in April.
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