3 months on, CBI awaits Raliways nod to prosecute official in graft case involving Lalu

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. Photo: PTI/File

PATNA: Months after the CBI had sought its nod, the Railway board is yet to grant sanction for prosecution of one of its officials in a graft case involving RJD chief Lalu Yadav and his family. The CBI had on April 16 filed a charge sheet against former railway minister Lalu Prasad and others in connection with alleged corruption in handing out a management contract for two IRCTC hotels to a private company in 2006. Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi, and their son Tejashwi were also among the 14 people named by the CBI in the chargesheet. The CBI wrote to the Railways in April seeking its permission to prosecute BK Aggarwal, who was then the group general manager of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The CBI has named Agarwal in its chargesheet along with others. According to the sources, the alleged delay in procuring sanctions from concerned authorities to prosecute Agarwal may weaken the case against the Lalu family. The case pertains to allegations that Lalu Prasad, as railway minister, handed over the maintenance of two hotels run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a subsidiary of the Indian Railways, in Ranchi and Puri to Sujata Hotels, a company owned by Vinay and Vijay Kochhar, in return for a prime plot of three acres in Patna through a benami company. Following an FIR against the then Deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav in the same case, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had resigned from his post last year, saying his position had become “untenable” and that he was listening to the “voice of his conscience”. Nitish, who left the RJD-led grand alliance, later formed a coalition with the BJP to become the chief minister again. The FIR alleged that Lalu Yadav abused his official position for extending undue favours to the Kochhars and acquired a piece of "high value premium land" through the benami firm, Delight Marketing Company. As a quid pro quo, he "dishonestly and fraudulently" awarded the contract to them for the two hotels, the FIR had alleged. After the tender was awarded to Sujata Hotel, the ownership of Delight Marketing also changed hands from Sarla Gupta to Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav between 2010 and 2014, according to the FIR. The CBI had registered a case in July last year and carried out searches at 12 locations in Patna, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar and Gurugram in connection with the case. The charges in the case include criminal conspiracy (120-B), cheating (420) under IPC and corruption. (With additional inputs from PTI)