NEW DELHI, July 12 (IANS) A Delhi court on Wednesday granted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) until August 8 to seek sanction to prosecute Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and other officials in a case related to alleged land-for-work fraud.
Special Judge Gitanjali Goel of the Ross Avenue Court granted time to the investigative agency where she made a prayer to that effect.
On July 3, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an indictment against Lalu Yadav, his wife Rapri Devi, their son, and Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwe Yadav.
The Central Agency, through Special Prosecutor DP Singh, informed the court that a new indictment had been filed in the case, although an indictment had already been filed because the alleged act was committed with a different modus operandi.
The court has also been informed that he is awaiting execution of the sentence against Lalu Prasad and three others.
“During the period 2004-2009, Lalu Prasad Yadav received financial benefits in the form of transferring land ownership in the name of his family members instead of appointing replacements in Group ‘D’ positions in different areas of the railways,” the CBI official said earlier.
CBI has registered a case against Lalu Yadav, then Minister of Railways, his wife Rapri Devi, two daughters and 15 others, including government employees and unknown persons. A number of Patna residents themselves or through their family members sold and gifted their lands in favor of his family members and a private company controlled by him and his family.
“No announcement or any public notice has been made of such appointment of substitutes in Zonal Railways, however appointees who were residents of Patna were appointed as substitutes in various railways located in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hazipur.
“Continuing this modus operandi, Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members acquired an immovable property located in Patna of about 1,05,292 sq ft by means of five sales bills and two gift deeds, which shows the amount paid to the seller mostly in cash,” the CBI said. .
In the first indictment, the CBI said that irregular appointments were made in the railways in violation of the standards and guidelines set by the Indian Railways for recruitment. It is alleged that the candidates gave the Yadav family members the land at deeply reduced rates – as much as one-fifth of the prevailing market rates – directly or through their relatives and close family members.
The CBI had filed the indictment in the case on October 10, 2022, against 16 persons including Rabri Devi and his daughter, and then the sentence was obtained for their prosecution.
– Jans
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