Delhi court frames money laundering charges against Lalu, Rabri and Tejashwi in IRCTC hotel case
A Delhi court on Thursday ordered framing of money laundering charges against former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav and six others in the Enforcement Directorate’s case linked to the alleged IRCTC hotel scam.
Special Judge Vishal Gogne discharged seven of the 16 accused and ordered charges to be framed against the remaining nine under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The court said that at the stage of framing charges, it was not required to determine criminal intent or mens rea and had to examine whether there was a strong suspicion against the accused.
The court rejected Lalu Prasad’s argument that the ED case was motivated by political vendetta, saying the nature, timing and course of the investigation did not indicate such a motive.
The case relates to alleged irregularities between 2005 and 2014 in the award of leases for railway hotels at Ranchi and Puri to Sujata Hotels.
The court said there was a strong suspicion that the tender process was manipulated by railway officials under Lalu Prasad, who was then railway minister. It alleged that, as a quid pro quo, Sujata Hotels directors Vinay Kochhar and Vijay Kochhar transferred prime land in Patna to Delight Marketing Pvt Ltd (DMCPL) at undervalued rates.
The court said DMCPL was controlled by Lalu Prasad associates P C Gupta and his wife Sarla Gupta, and that its shares were subsequently transferred to Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav at a nominal price.
It said the Patna land constituted proceeds of crime and that the alleged money laundering charge was liable to be framed against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, P C Gupta, Sarla Gupta, Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar and Lara Projects LLP.
The court also framed charges against the ninth accused, as part of the total nine facing trial, while discharging Gaurav Gupta, Nath Mal Kakrania, Rahul Yadav, Vijay Tripathi, Deoki Nandan Tulshyan, Rajiv Kumar Relan and Abhishek Finance Pvt Ltd.
The court posted the matter for formal framing of charges on October 3.
The CBI had already secured framing of corruption charges against Lalu Prasad and 11 others in the related case last October.
