IRCTC scam: Bail granted to Lalu's wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav
New Delhi, Oct 6 : A Delhi court Saturday granted bail to RJD chief Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav and others in an Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) scam case lodged by the CBI.
Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj also granted interim bail till November 19 to Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and others in a money laundering case filed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the alleged scam.
The court also directed Prasad to be produced through video conference on November 19 in the cases filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED.
The court granted bail to Rabri and Tejashwi Yadav in the CBI case on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of a like amount.
However, the regular bail was not granted to the accused in the ED case after the agency sought time to file a reply to the bail applications.
The court had earlier granted interim bail to the accused, except Prasad, on August 31 till today in the case filed by the CBI after the agency had sought time to file a reply today.
Earlier, the court had summoned and asked Prasad's family and all others involved to appear before it. The case is related to alleged irregularities in granting the operational contract of two IRCTC hotels to a private firm.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Prasad did not appear before the court on Friday as he is imprisoned in a Jharkhand jail on another charge.
The CBI, which had on April 16 filed the charge sheet in the case, had said there was enough evidence against Prasad, Rabri, Tejashwi and others.
Earlier, the CBI had informed the court that sanction has been procured from authorities concerned to prosecute Additional Member of Railway Board B K Agarwal, who was then the group general manager of the IRCTC.
Besides Lalu Prasad, and his family members, former Union minister Prem Chand Gupta and his wife Sarla Gupta and Agarwal, then managing director of IRCTC P K Goyal and then IRCTC director Rakesh Saxena were also named in the charge sheet.
The other names in the charge sheet include then group general managers of IRCTC V K Asthana and R K Goyal, and Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar, both directors of Sujata Hotels and owners of Chanakya Hotel.
Delight Marketing Company, now known as Lara Projects, and Sujata Hotels Private Limited have also been named as accused companies in the charge sheet.
The CBI had registered a case in July last year and carried out searches at 12 locations in Patna, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar and Gurgaon in connection with the case.
The charges in the case include criminal conspiracy (120-B), cheating (420) under IPC and corruption, the central probe agency had said.
The ED had filed a case based on the the CBI FIR.
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Dangerous explosives found outside Kerala school
Palakkad (PTI): Explosives found outside a school compound in Vadakanthara in this district on Wednesday were confirmed to be of a dangerous nature, according to the First Information Report (FIR).
The explosives were found on Wednesday evening when a student threw one of the devices--which are suspected to be used for eliminating wild boar--resulting in an explosion, causing minor injuries to both himself and an elderly woman nearby, police said.
The FIR states that Narayanan, a 10-year-old student, discovered the explosives near the gate of the Vyasa Vidhya Peedom pre-primary school compound in Vadakanthara at around 3.45 pm.
Excited over the discovery, he threw one of the explosives to the ground, which then exploded with a loud sound, injuring himself and 84-year-old Leela, who was standing nearby.
School authorities and residents rushed to the scene and called the police who searched the place and found four more explosives in a bucket.
The injured were taken to the hospital, and their condition is stable, said police sources.
Palakkad North police have registered a case under section 3(a) (causing an explosion that is likely to endanger life), section 4(a) (keeping explosives with an intention to endanger life and property) of the Explosive Substance Act, and section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act that deals with cruelty to children.
The FIR of the case stated that explosives were of a dangerous nature and were kept at the place to endanger human life.
A team led by a DySP-ranked officer is investigating the case.
According to police, CCTV cameras in the area have been recovered as part of the investigation, and attempts are being made to identify people who kept explosives near the school compound.
BJP district leaders alleged a major conspiracy behind the incident and demanded a thorough probe.
CPI(M) leaders alleged that the school management is affiliated with RSS, and there is training given to volunteers in the area.
Congress has also called for a detailed probe into the incident.
