ED summons Lalu Prasad, kin for questioning in land-for-jobs case
Patna (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate has summoned RJD president and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tej Pratap Yadav for questioning in the land-for-jobs money laundering case, official sources said on Tuesday.
While Prasad, 76, has been asked to depose before the federal probe agency in Patna on Wednesday, his kin have been asked to appear on Tuesday.
The statements of the three are to be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.
The sources, however, said that Prasad and his family members may not appear before the agency.
Prasad and his younger son Tejashwi Yadav have been questioned by the ED in this case earlier.
Last year, the ED filed a chargesheet in the case against Prasad's family members before a Delhi court, naming Rabri Devi and their daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav as accused apart from some others.
The probe pertains to the allegation that Prasad, during his tenure as the railway minister in the UPA-1 government at the Centre, indulged in corruption for the appointment of group D substitutes in Indian Railways during 2004-2009.
According to a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR, the candidates were told to "transfer land as a bribe" in return for jobs in the railways, the ED said in a statement earlier. The money laundering case is based on the CBI complaint.
"The family members of Lalu Prasad -- Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav -- who were made accused in the ED chargesheet, received land parcel(s) from the family of candidates (who were selected as group D substitutes in Indian Railways) for nominal amounts.
"Hridyanand Chaudhary, another accused named in the chargesheet, is a former employee in the gaushala of Rabri Devi who had acquired property from one of the candidates and later transferred the same to Hema Yadav," the ED has said.
Firms like A K Infosystems Private Limited and A B Exports Pvt. Ltd. were "shell" companies which received proceeds of crime for Prasad's family members, the agency said, adding that immovable properties were acquired in the name of the said companies by "front men".
Later, the ED claimed, shares were transferred to Prasad's family members for nominal amounts.
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Tejashwi Yadav to head INDIA Bloc’s coordination committee for Bihar assembly elections
Patna: The opposition INDIA bloc has named Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav as the head of its coordination committee for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
The decision was made during a meeting of the six alliance partners – Congress, RJD, Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (CPI(ML)), and the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) – held in Patna on Thursday, April 17.
While the bloc stopped short of formally declaring Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate, it confirmed that he will lead the key decision-making committee for the election campaign. The committee will be responsible for drafting a common minimum programme, finalizing the manifesto, managing seat-sharing talks, and coordinating campaign strategies.
Congress’s Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru, speaking at a joint press conference after the meeting, said, “The coordination committee will be the supreme body for the INDIA alliance, overseeing every aspect of the election. Tejashwi Yadav will be its chairman, and members from all alliance partners will be included.”
The meeting followed Yadav’s recent discussions in Delhi with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
Addressing the media after the Patna meeting, Yadav said, “There is deep resentment among the people of Bihar due to unemployment, poverty, and increasing migration. Even the NITI Aayog’s report confirms Bihar as the poorest state despite 20 years of rule under the NDA.”
He further criticized both Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the central government, stating, “The real double engine in Bihar is crime and corruption.”
In the 2020 Assembly elections, the RJD emerged as the single largest party with 75 seats, while Congress won 19 of the 70 it contested. The CPI(ML) secured 12 of 19 seats, and the VIP, despite exiting the alliance before the elections, won four seats.
The INDIA bloc is now preparing to mount a consolidated challenge to the ruling NDA in the upcoming state polls.
