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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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
