The CBI on Friday filed a chargesheet against former Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and 14 others in connection with an alleged land-for-jobs scam during his tenure in the Railways.
Yadav's daughter Misa Bharti and former general manager Sowmya Raghvan of the Railways have also been named as accused in the charge sheet, officials said.
Kamal Deep Mainrai, the then CPO, Railways, substitutes Rajkumar Singh, Mithlesh Kumar, Ajay Kuma, Sanjay Kumar, Dharmendra Kumar, Vikas kumar and Abhishek Kumar besides private persons Ravindra Rai, Kiran Devi, Akhileshwar Singh and Ramashish Singh have also been named as accused in the chargesheet, officials said.
The agency had registered a Preliminary Enquiry on September 23, 2021 related to the alleged land-for-jobs scam in the Railways which was converted into a Regular Case or an FIR on May 18.
Candidates were allegedly appointed as substitutes in group D positions within three days of applying in "undue haste" by Railways officials and were later, regularised when the "individuals themselves or their family members transferred their land" to the accused persons, according to the agency.
The land transfers were made through sale deeds in the name of Rabri Devi and daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, it alleged.
The agency has alleged that land measuring about 1.05 lakh square feet in Patna was acquired by Yadav's family members by making payments to the sellers in cash.
During searches in August, as many as 200 sale deeds were found and the agency suspects many candidates would have given their land to get jobs, sources said.
Investigation has led to identification of at least 12 such candidates who got jobs when Yadav was Railway Minister during the UPA-I.
The CBI investigation conducted so far also revealed that Bhola Yadav, then OSD of Lalu Prasad Yadav, was persuading the engagement of various substitute candidates in Group D with the concerned railway authorities. The probe has revealed that he was instrumental in finalization and execution of land deals relevant to the case, sources said.
According to the CBI probe, most of the applications submitted for engagement in Railways were not addressed to any specific zonal Railway but they were marked GM Railway Government of India or the Railways Minister, they said.
Bhola Yadav, according to the probe, was collecting applications from various candidates for engagement as substitutes in Group D at Camp Office Of the then Minister Of Railway Residence Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Yadav at 10 Circular Road Patna.
During CBI remand of Bhola Yadav, certain critical documents have been recovered at his instance which is crucial for investigation.
Though residents of Patna, the named candidates were appointed as substitutes in different zones of Railways like Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur among others during the period 2004-09, the sources said.
Such candidates allegedly got the jobs in lieu of transferring their land in the name of family members of Lalu Prasad Yadav and in the name of a private company AK Infosystem.