The CBI has registered a fresh FIR against former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad and his family members for allegedly taking over one lakh sqft land in Patna from candidates in lieu of group D jobs in Railways during 2004-09. Lalu was the Railway Minister in the UPA Government at that time.
The RJD has slammed the CBI for the raids and said the probe agency is acting at the behest of the BJP.
Hundreds of RJD workers gathered outside the residence of Rabri Devi when the searches were going on and raised slogans against the CBI.
Following the registration of FIR on May 18 by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the CBI, the agency conducted search operations at 16 locations in Delhi, Patna and Gopalganj on the premises of Lalu, his family members, and other accused persons.
The CBI has named Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi, and daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, in addition to 12 other persons who were given jobs in Railway zones of Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur.
The Regular Case (FIR) is an outcome of a preliminary enquiry registered by the agency on September 23, 2021 related to the land-for-jobs scam in the Railways during Yadav’s stint as Minister in the UPA regime.
According to the FIR, the candidates were appointed as substitutes in group D positions within three days of applying in “undue haste” by Railway officials and were later regularised “in lieu thereof the individuals themselves or their family members transferred their land”.
The transfers were made through three sale deeds in the name of Rabri and one in the name of Misa and two gift deeds in the name Hema, reads the FIR.
One sale deed was executed in the name of a company AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd in which Rabri became a majority shareholder in 2014 and is currently one of the directors of the company, alleges the FIR.
Lalu’s family allegedly paid Rs 3.75 lakh to Rs 13 lakh for the lands acquired by them which, according to circle rates, were approximately valued at Rs 4.39 crore, the CBI further alleged in its FIR. In the case of gift deeds to Hema, a person named Brij Nandan Rai allegedly transferred 3,375 sq ft land in Patna to a man called Hridayanand Choudhary for Rs 4.21 lakh in 2008. Choudhary subsequently transferred the land in 2014 to Hema.
“The value of said land as per prevailing circle rate at the time of gift was Rs 62.10 lakh,” the FIR alleged. According to the CBI probe so far, about 1.05 lakh sq feet land situated at Patna was acquired by family members of Lalu by making payment to the sellers in cash.
“The current value of seven parcels of land, including the land acquired through gift deeds, as per existing circle rate is about Rs 4.39 crore... Enquiry has revealed that parcels of land which were directly purchased by the family members of Lalu from the sellers were purchased at lower rates than the prevailing circle rates,” the FIR alleged.
The candidates were appointed in Railways without any advertisement or public notice issued for the purpose in the zonal railways.
“Enquiry revealed that undue haste was shown in processing certain applications of candidates and surprisingly within three days from the date of receipt of respective applications, their appointments as substitutes, were approved,” the FIR alleged. The applications, without complete address of the respective addressees, were processed and approved for appointment, the PE has revealed. “Enquiry has revealed that there were certain guidelines/instructions issued by the Railway Authority from time to time for appointment of substitutes in Railway. But prima facie, it revealed that due procedure was not followed for appointment of substitutes and later on their services have also been regularised,” the FIR alleged.
The fresh case comes weeks after Lalu was released on bail in the fodder scam in which he was convicted by a special court in Ranchi. Following the registration of the case and corresponding searches, the Rashtriya Janata Dal in a cryptic comment said, “Tota (parrot) hai, Toton ka kya.”
The Supreme Court has termed CBI a “ caged parrot” during the UPA Government. “They (BJP) try to scare others by targeting someone. Nobody will be scared. Neither will we, nor they and nor the people of Bihar,” RJD spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Manoj Kumar Jha said after the CBI action. Recent meetings between Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav have triggered speculation about realignment of political forces in Bihar, with the relations between Kumar’s JD (U) and its ally BJP being seen as far from smooth.
Jha said he is not surprised at the CBI action but was sad seeing where the BJP was taking Indian democracy to. This is an attack on democracy, he alleged. However, BJP leader and State Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain dismissed the allegations by RJD rank and file, asserting that the CBI was “an independent investigating agency” and deplored “attempts to impute political motives”.