Land-for-jobs-scam: CBI searches premises linked to RJD MP, MLA

The CBI also conducted searches at RJD MLA Kiran Devi’s residence at Hardinge Road in Patna and at the paternal village home of her husband Arun Yadav, a former party MLA, at Agiaon in Bhojpur.

During the investigation into the alleged scam, officials said, new leads on the role of the MLA emerged and on that basis the CBI conducted the searches for more evidence. “We are conducting raids in the premises of RJD MLA Kiran Devi and former MLA Arun Yadav,” an official said.

The RJD slammed the Centre for misusing the probe agency. “The searches by the CBI and recurrent misuse of central agencies by the NDA government only shows the BJP’s frustration at losing Assembly elections in one state after another. As our leader Lalu Prasad has always defied the PM, he has been the prime target of political vendetta. The BJP perhaps is staring at 2024 Lok Sabha defeat,” RJD national spokesperson Subodh Kumar said.

In May last year, the CBI had booked Lalu and his family members in a fresh case of corruption. It had named 16 people, including Lalu, Rabri Devi and their daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav as accused in the case.

According to the central agency, at least eight people were given Group D jobs in the railways in lieu of plots of land when Lalu was the railway minister in the UPA-1 government (2004-09). It alleged that Lalu and his family acquired over 1 lakh sq ft of land for Rs 26 lakh, when its then cumulative market value was over Rs 4.39 crore.

The agency claimed that substitutes from Patna were appointed in various zonal railways in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hajipur. In return, the candidates, directly or through family members, allegedly sold land to Lalu’s family members at highly discounted rates.