Court frames charges against Lalu, Rabri, Tejashwi in IRCTC ‘scam’

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.