Land-for-jobs case: Day after ED raids, Tejashwi Yadav to appear before CBI today

Earlier this week, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned RJD leaders and former Bihar chief ministers Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi in connection with the case. The ED on Friday searched premises allegedly linked to their children, including a house in New Delhi where Tejashwi Yadav was present.

ED sources said a house in Delhi’s New Friends Colony, where Tejashwi was present, was among the 24 premises searched in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Ranchi and Phulwari Sharif. Properties allegedly linked to Tejashwi’s sisters Chanda, Ragini and Hema were among those searched along with that of former RJD MLA Abu Dojana.

“During the searches, cash amounting to Rs 53 lakh, foreign currency including USD 1,900, 540 grams of gold bullion, more than 1.5 kg of gold jewellery and several other incriminating documents and electronic devices were seized,” an ED official said.

The ED case, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stems from a CBI probe into allegations that people were given employment in the railways – when Lalu Prasad was railway minister – in return for land parcels gifted or sold at cheap rates to the Yadav family and associates.

The New Friends Colony property searched by the ED is identified as D-1088 and is said to be the registered address of a company M/s AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd (AKIPL). According to the CBI FIR in the case, AKIPL got a land parcel in lieu of a railway job given to a candidate when Lalu was railways minister. In 2014, majority shares of the company were purchased by Rabri Devi who was appointed a director in the firm along with Ragini and Chanda, ED officials said.

Agency sources said that though the New Friends Colony property is shown in the records as the registered address of AKIPL, it is being used as a residential premise by Tejashwi Yadav.

According to ED officials, Rabri Devi and Hema Yadav separately received two land parcels each from candidates who got railway jobs. These land parcels were bought at a price of just Rs 7.5 lakh and were then allegedly sold to M/s Meridian Constructions India Ltd, a company run by Abu Dojana, for Rs 3.5 crore.

Apart from premises linked to Lalu’s family and Dojana, other premises searched by the ED include those of Amit Katyal, Navdeep Sardana and Praveen Jain, apart from offices of AKIPL, M/s Brahma City Pvt ltd, M/s Elite Landbase Pvt Ltd, M/s Whiteland Corporation Pvt Ltd, and M/s Meridian Construction India Limited. Katyal, sources said, is an associate of Lalu Yadav and a former director of AKIPL.

The CBI filed a chargesheet in the case against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi – they were questioned recently – and 14 others under charges of criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and all have been summoned on March 15.

Following the ED searches, Tejashwi’s sister Rohini Acharya alleged that her brother’s pregnant wife was being “tortured” by the agency and alleged that the entire family was being targeted. “Have some shame. There is a pregnant daughter-in-law in the house. Sisters have small kids. You will suffer the consequences of the sin of torturing them. We will remember this injustice. What crime have my sister’s kids committed? What crime has my pregnant sister-in-law committed? Their only crime is that the Lalu family has never bowed before fascist forces,” Acharya said in a series of tweets.

RJD national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha told reporters: “Ever since we aligned with the JD(U) in August last year to form the government in Bihar, the BJP has gone livid. It has been using officials of central agencies with possible assurances of post-retirement benefits for destabilising our government. But our leader Lalu Prasad is not one to be cowed down by such things. People have already been mocking the BJP for launching a political vendetta of this scale everywhere against its political opponents. We want to know how the BJP would feel if it loses power and the same thing happens to them.”

Meanwhile, former RJD MLA Abu Dojana told reporters: “It is nothing but a political matter.”

After his father was questioned recently, Tejashwi, among the Opposition leaders who wrote to the Prime Minister alleging “blatant” misuse of central agencies, had said, “We are not at all perturbed as there is little merit in the case. The CBI, ED and Income Tax will continue to visit us until 2024.”