A Delhi court Monday framed charges of corruption, criminal conspiracy and cheating against RJD president and former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad in connection with the alleged IRCTC scam, which is being investigated by the CBI. His wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav have also been charged with conspiracy and cheating. This comes as Bihar is heading into two-phase Assembly elections next month. As Railway Minister, Lalu has been accused of allegedly favouring a private company in awarding operation and maintenance contracts for two IRCTC hotels in lieu of prime land in Patna. “Lalu Prasad prima facie intervened and that too through oral instructions on two occasions… to influence the pace and process of transfer of the above BNR Hotels as well as the proposed budget hotels,” said Special Judge Vishal Gogne of Rouse Avenue Court. According to CBI, which submitted a chargesheet in 2018 against Lalu, Rabri and Tejashwi, who is Bihar LoP, there were irregularities in tenders allotted to a private company, Sujata Hotels, for the development, maintenance, and operation of Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) hotels in Ranchi and Puri. “The land parcels were undervalued and given to Rabri Devi and Lalu Prasad. This caused wrongful loss to the public exchequer… the court has reached a prima facie finding that there exists a grave suspicion at the manner in which transfers were made at undervalued rates,” he said. “.there were material modifications in the tender process, specifically with respect to the star classification criteria and evaluation of the competing bids for these two hotels,” he said. While reading out the charges to Prasad, the court said: “You engaged in conspiracy, you abused your position as public servant, influenced the tender. eligibility conditions of tender were manipulated, you conspired for undervalued purchase of land parcels and conspired with other accused for subsequent transfer of effective control over these land parcels.” “The loss to the exchequer is not a euphemism but a monetary loss capable of quantification through the appropriate evidence. What elevates the suspicion to the grade of grave suspicion is that the land and share transactions were possibly an instance of crony capitalism fostered in the garb of eliciting private participation in the Railway hotels at Ranchi and Puri whereby the commercial players ingratiate themselves to the then Minister of Railways by transferring their prime land at Patna to his wife and son through the acolytes of the Minister,” Judge Gogne said in his order. All three pleaded not guilty. A day-to-day trial is likely to begin in late October. The CBI and ED are also investigating the alleged “land-for- jobs scam” against Prasad and his family.
