New Delhi: Hours after the Enforcement Directorate attached assets of Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad and his family, the party slammed the Centre saying the objective of such actions is to "disrupt" the opposition alliance INDIA, reported news agency PTI.
Notably, the ED on Monday attached assets worth more than Rs 6 crore as part of its money laundering investigation against the party supremo, his family, and others in an alleged land-for-railway jobs scam.
Reacting to the development, RJD MP and spokesperson Manoj Jha accused ED of "spinning and planting stories" in the media about the investigation against Prasad and his family, and claimed that the government had sought an extension for the probe agency's chief to "target" opposition leaders.
Jha said, "We had addressed a press conference on July 27 about the person who has been given an extension as the ED chief," reported PTI.
He further stated, "After the Supreme Court's rap, they have not been left with any alternative and will destabilise the governments of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand. What is being run in the media that wealth worth 6 crore of Lalu Prasad's family has been attached, is not true. This is political and will not succeed."
"When we had raised questions about the concerned person in ED, we knew what they are going to do. They will spin such stories, they will plant stories, their objective is to disrupt INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance)...You will not be able to do it," he added.
RJD Bihar spokesperson Chitaranjan Gagan said in a statement, "After the formation of the opposition bloc INDIA, BJP leaders are scared and that is why the NDA government is misusing the central probe agencies, the statement said adding that the ED move is a witch-hunt against the RJD president."
The opposition had slammed the BJP-led Centre on Friday over the extension of the tenure of ED chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra till September 15, alleging that this was done with "ulterior political motives" and was aimed at targeting the leaders of the INDIA bloc with "false cases" to weaken the alliance.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate in a statement said that a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has been issued to attach the six immovable assets in Patna, Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) and a four-storey bungalow at D-1088 in the posh New Friends Colony area of south Delhi.
The development comes nearly a month after the CBI, which is also probing the scam, filed a fresh charge sheet against former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, and his son and current deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav in connection with the case.
It is alleged by the ED and the CBI that during the period 2004-09, various persons were appointed to Group D positions in various zones of the Indian Railways, and in lieu, the persons concerned transferred their land to the family members of Lalu Prasad.