Land-For-Jobs 'Scam': Delhi Court Issues Summons To Lalu Prasad Yadav, Ex-Railway Officials

Land-For-Jobs 'Scam':

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav arrives to offer prayers at the Baba Baidyanath Dham temple, in Deoghar district ( Image Source :PTI )

Days after the Home Ministry approved a new chargesheet against Lalu Prasad Yadav in the alleged land-for-jobs scam, a Delhi court on Friday issued summons to the former Bihar Chief Minister in connection with the case. Besides Yadav, former Railway officials have also been asked to appear before Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on October 4, ANI reported.

On September 12, the CBI had apprised the court that sanction to prosecute Lalu Prasad Yadav was obtained from the Home Ministry in a fresh chargesheet in the case. The development came after the court, in July, granted CBI time to obtain sanction to prosecute the Bihar leader and other accused persons.

The case pertains to alleged corruption when Lalu Prasad Yadav served as Railway Minister in the Congress-led UPA government from 2004 to 2009.

The CBI has alleged that people were given jobs in Railways allegedly in lieu of land plots. The probe agnecy has further alleged that the RJD supremo and his family acquired more than 1 lakh sqft of land for a paltry Rs 26 lakh when its then cumulative market value was around Rs 4.40 crore.

Land-For-Jobs Case: What Has CBI Alleged?

The CBI had registered a case against Lalu Prasad and 15 others, including his wife and former CM Rabri Devi, two daughters and unidentified public servants on May 18, 2022.

Earlier this year, the CBI had filed a supplementary chargesheet against Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi and others in connection with the scam.

The ED, which is probing the money laundering angle in the case, had said in July that it attached assets worth more than Rs 6 crore belonging to Lalu Prasad's family and linked companies.

"During the period 2004-2009, Lalu Prasad (then Railway Minister) had obtained pecuniary advantages in the form of transfer of landed property in the name of his family members in lieu of appointment of substitutes in Group 'D' posts in different zones of Railways," a CBI official had earlier said, IANS reported.

"No advertisement or any public notice was issued for such appointment of substitutes in Zonal Railways, yet the appointees, who were residents of Patna, were appointed as substitutes in different Zonal Railways located in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur," the probe agency further said.