Lalu Prasad, Tejashwi Yadav named accused in land-for-job scam chargesheet

The chargesheet has been filed against former Union Minister of Railways Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Chief Minister of Bihar Rabri Devi, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and several others in the case related to the Land for Job scam.

CBI through its Special Public Prosecutor Advocate DP Singh informed the Rouse Avenue Court of Delhi that a fresh chargesheet is filed in the case, despite a chargesheet already being filed because the alleged act is committed with a different modus operandi. 

The court was also informed that sanctions are awaited against Lalu and three others.

Lalu Prasad Yadav is accused of giving jobs in railways in lieu of plots of land from the candidates or their relatives either as gifts or at cheap rates. The probe had started two years ago but the case was registered last year.

CBI in May 2022, registered a new case against him and his family members on the charge of taking land from aspirants in return for jobs in the railways from 2008 to 2009 when he was the Union railway minister in the UPA government.

This was during the time Lalu Prasad Yadav was released on bail in a fodder scam case, in which he was convicted by a special court. 

What is the Land for Job scam case?

During the period 2004-2009, Lalu Prasad Yadav had allegedly obtained pecuniary advantages in the form of transfer of landed property in the name of his family members in lieu of appointment of ‘substitutes’ on Group D Posts in different zones of railways, the CBI alleged. 

The candidates were appointed within three days of applying in “undue haste” by the railway officials. They were later also regularized, when the “individuals themselves or their family members transferred their land”.

A number of residents of Patna or through their family members allegedly sold or gifted their lands in the state capital in favour of the family members of Lalu Prasad and a private company controlled by the former chief minister and his family. 

The transfers were made through deeds in the name of Rabri Devi and daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, it was alleged. The CBI claimed no advertisement or any public notice was issued for such appointments, yet the appointees who were residents of Patna were appointed as substitutes in different zonal railways at Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur.

In continuation of this modus operandi, about 1,05,292 Sq. feet of immovable properties situated at Patna were acquired by Yadav and his family members through five sales deeds and two gift deeds, showing the payment made to the seller in cash in most of the land transfers, the CBI alleged.

Updated: 03 Jul 2023, 06:43 PM IST