The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday raided the premises of former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughters and several RJD leaders in several cities, including in a money-laundering probe in the ‘land for jobs’ scam.
Officials said that the matter is allegedly related to the appointment of a job in the Indian Railways. This is in lieu of land gifted or sold at cheap rates to the Yadav family and their associates.
On 6 March, Lalu Yadav’s wife Rabri Devi was questioned at her residence in Patna, followed by Lalu Prasad at his daughter Misa Bharti’s residence in Delhi the next day.
Though the charge sheet has been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case, the recent spate of inquiries has been with regard to newly received leads and information received by the CBI in the case.
CBI sources say that during the course of investigation they came to know more about the modus operandi of the scam.
Officials are corroborating complaints that Lalu Yadav had amassed wealth more than the agency’s knowledge in the alleged scam. He was the Railway Minister between 2004 and 2009 during the UPA regime.
Allegations on Yadav & Co.
ED raided 24 places including Patna, Mumbai, Delhi, NCR and Ranchi.
In Patna, the ED team started its search operation at the residence of a very close aide of Lalu Yadav – a former RJD MLA from Sitamarhi.
The ED raided Patna’s SP Verma Road, where his company Meridian Construction Pvt Ltd is located. The team reportedly reached the office located on the third floor of the building. However, he had to wait outside the office for more than 5 hours as the office was locked.
The team could enter the premises only when Syed Abu Dojana’s brother – another builder – brought the keys of the office and handed them over to the ED officials.
Syed Abu Dojana, now an RJD leader, has been on the radar of central agencies for some time now.
In 2022, the CBI had searched the residences and offices of RJD leaders Dojana and Subhash Yadav in the ‘land for job’ scam.
Last year, the CBI also raided the premises of MLC Sunil Singh, Rajya Sabha MP Asfaq Karim, Rajya Sabha MP Fayyaz Ahmed, former MLC Subodh Rai and former MLA Abu Dojana in Patna, Madhubani and Katihar. ‘land for job’ scam
In 2018, the IT team had raided the residence and offices of builder-turned-politician Dojana, who is considered close to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav and his family.
Dojana’s company was engaged in the construction of the mall, which is said to be the largest in Bihar. However, the construction was stopped by the ED in 2018.
The ED’s action comes after registering a case in February alleging that Lalu Yadav’s aide Prem Chand Gupta’s company was awarded the operation and maintenance contract of two IRCTC hotels in Ranchi and Puri in exchange for the sale of land in Patna. 2005 at low cost.
political war of words
RJD’s Rajya Sabha MP and chief spokesperson Manoj Jha said in a statement, “The pain of leaving power in 2022 is not going away. That’s why the trees and plants planted in Lalu ji’s courtyard will also be searched, they will also be investigated.
Without naming anyone, the RJD MP targeted the BJP and said, “You have tarnished the character of these institutions so much that when you are no longer at the Centre, you will also come under its influence.”
BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi said that Lalu Yadav was born in a poor family and became the biggest landlord by getting land to give jobs. He has alleged that Lalu Yadav has more than one lakh square feet of valuable land in Patna alone.
Sushil Modi also claimed that Tejashwi Yadav should explain how he became the owner of a four-storey house worth billions of rupees in New Friends Colony, New Delhi.
He alleged, “Tejashwi Yadav did not even get a good education. He failed in cricket but at the age of just 29 was the owner of 52 properties. All this without doing any business. Shouldn’t it be probed?”
Sushil Modi further alleged that Lalu Yadav used money laundering in allotting key posts to MLAs, MPs, ministers and even MLCs. “Lalu Prasad obtained valuable lands and named them in the names of his family members, implicating the entire family. No one else has trapped them. Former MLA Abu Dojana is the same person who was building Tejashwi Yadav’s 750 crore mall in Patna.
The Congress has alleged that the raids were just a form of harassment. Party president Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the raid in a tweet.
For the last 14 hours, Modi ji called the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar @yadavtejashwi ED is sitting at his house. His pregnant wife and sisters are being harassed. @laluprasadrjd Yes, he is old, sick, even then the Modi government did not show humanity towards him.
Now the water has gone over the head.
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@Kharge) March 10, 2023
What is ‘land for job’ scam?
The alleged scam dates back to the time when Lalu Yadav served as Union Railway Minister from 2004 to 2009. During this there was an alleged ‘land for jobs’ scam.
The RJD patriarch, his wife Rabri, and their daughters Misa and Hema Yadav were allegedly given plots of land as kickbacks by persons appointed by the Railways in 2008-2009. Apart from this, CBI claims that 12 people were given jobs in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur railway zones.
Lalu Prasad Yadav is accused of taking advantage of his position as Railway Minister to transfer properties in the names of his family members in lieu of appointing replacements to Group “D” posts in various railway zones, according to the CBI. transferred to
The CBI also claimed in its FIR that instead, Vikalp, who was himself a resident of Patna or through his family members, was in favor of Lalu Prasad’s family members and a private corporation owned by the family in Patna. He sold his land and gifted it. Member.
“Substitutes were recruited in Grade D of Railways who joined service much after their appointment. These options were later regularized after they submitted fake documents which were wrongly verified during the recruitment process.
According to CBI, no advertisement or any public notice was issued for such appointments and these people were appointed as “officiating” in various Zonal Railways in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur.
According to the CBI investigation, Lalu’s family thus bought more than one lakh square feet of land for just Rs 26 lakh. This is despite the fact that the actual value of the land is estimated to be more than Rs 4.39 crore.
“Approximately 1,05,292 square feet of land/immovable properties in Patna were acquired by the family members of the said minister through five sale deeds and two gift deeds, showing the payment made to the seller in most of the land transfers, A CBI officer told News18 earlier.
According to the agency, railway officials in “reasonable haste” allegedly replaced candidates for Group D posts within three days of their applications, and subsequently “replaced those persons or their family members” with regular candidates. who had donated their land. ,
The ‘Land for Jobs’ scam: A brief timeline
- September 2021: CBI begins preliminary inquiry into ‘land for jobs’ scam.
- July 2022 – CBI arrested the then OSD of Railways Bhola Yadav
- August 2022 – Raids were conducted at the houses of RJD MLC Sunil Singh, MLC Subodh Roy, RJD Rajya Sabha MPs Ashfaq Karim and Fayaz Ahmed in Madhubani.
- October 2022 – The CBI filed a charge sheet against Lalu Yadav, Rabri and 14 others under criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
- January 2023 – CBI gets sanction to prosecute Lalu Yadav in ‘land for jobs’ scam
- February 2023 – Rouse Avenue Court has issued summons to Lalu Yadav, Rabri, Misa Bharti and 13 others to appear in court on March 1.
- March 6, 2023 , CBI interrogates Rabri Devi at her Patna residence
- March 7, 2023 – CBI interrogates Lalu Yadav in Delhi
- March 10, 2023 – ED raids 24 places in Patna, Ranchi, Mumbai, Delhi and NCR
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