The CBI alleges that land was sold to Mr. Prasad and his family at meagre rates in exchange for appointments in railway jobs
The CBI alleges that land was sold to Mr. Prasad and his family at meagre rates in exchange for appointments in railway jobs
The story so far: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on October 7 filed a chargesheet at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court against former Railways Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and 14 others, including candidates who got jobs in the alleged land-for-jobs scam.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose party is now allied with the RJD, came out to defend Mr. Prasad. “I’ve seen everything. There is nothing in the case. It happened only because we’ve (JD-U and RJD) come together again,” Mr. Kumar said on Saturday, October 8.
What does the said land-for-jobs scam involve?
The CBI in May this year registered an FIR against Mr. Prasad, his wife and former minister Rabri Devi, their two daughters Misa Bharti (Rajya Sabha MP) and Hema Yadav, and 12 others in connection with the said scam. The agency conducted searches at multiple locations in Bihar and Delhi, including 10 Circular Road, Patna, Ms. Rabri Devi’s official residence. The central agency’s FIR was based on a preliminary enquiry registered in September 2021, into allegations that Railway jobs were given out in lieu of land.
Appointments
According to the FIR, between 2004 and 2009, when Mr. Prasad was the Union Minister of Railways in the UPA-I government, nearly 12 people were appointed as substitutes in various zones in Group-D posts in the Railways in exchange for land parcels. Candidates were initially appointed as substitutes for these Group-D jobs, involving technical and non-technical positions like cabin man, a category of engineers, electrical and mechanical helpers and so on, but they were later regularised.
The FIR noted that several residents of Patna were appointed as substitutes in railway zones headquartered at Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur, and no advertisements or public notices were issued for the appointment. Notably, the applications of the 12 candidates were not addressed, as per norm, to the respective zonal railways, but were instead addressed to the Minister of Railways.
Besides, these applications were processed in alleged violation of the set guidelines and “…undue haste was shown in processing certain applications of candidates and, surprisingly, within three days from the date of receipt of the respective applications, their appointments as substitutes were approved,” the FIR stated.
Land transfers
The agency alleged that parcels of land belonging to those who got the jobs or to their families were transferred in the name of Mr. Prasad’s family members and a company, AK Infosystem Private Limited, the rights and assets of which, in 2014, were transferred in full to Ms. Rabri Devi and one of their daughters. The agency said it found seven land deeds, and in one case , four members of one family were appointed to jobs in 2008.
It has been alleged that three sale deeds were executed in favour of Ms. Rabri Devi, one was transferred to Ms. Bharti, and another “sold” to AK Infosystems. The remaining two deeds were first transferred in the names of two men, who then executed “gift deeds” to transfer the land to Ms. Hema Yadav; each of these two parcels transferred as gifts was worth ₹62.10 lakh as per the then circle rate.
The CBI alleged that about 1 lakh sq ft of land situated in Patna was acquired by Mr. Prasad’s family members through the seven deeds. In most cases, payment to the sellers was shown to be in cash. The current circle-rate value of the seven parcels of land, including the land acquired through gift deeds, is over ₹4.39 crore.
What has the CBI done so far?
As it searched 16 premises linked to the accused persons in Delhi, Patna and Gopalganj in Bihar in May, the CBI found a list of 1,458 candidates appointed by the railways during Mr. Prasad’s tenure. While probing the applications that had irregularities, the agency in July conducted more searches and arrested Bhola Yadav, the former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Mr. Prasad. A Railway employee, Hridayanand Choudhary, who allegedly executed one of the “gift deeds” to Ms. Hema Yadav, was also arrested. Notably, Ms. Yadav has not been named in the CBI’s chargesheet.
The CBI said that Mr. Yadav, considered Mr. Prasad’s “man Friday”, oversaw the transfer of the land from those who got jobs to the family of the former Railways Minister, who is the general secretary of the RJD and a former member of Bihar’s Legislative Assembly.
In August, CBI raided the premises of multiple RJD leaders- former MLC Subodh Rai, Rajya Sabha member Ashfaque Karim, MLC Sunil Singh and Faiyaz Ahmad. It also reportedly raided an under-construction mall in Gurugram allegedly owned by RJD leader and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav. A CBI official said that it had so far seized more than 200 property sale documents.
What have the accused said?
The RJD said that the CBI searches in connection with the allegations were conducted “intentionally”, describing the case as “a political ploy of the BJP’s central government”. Soon after the FIR in May, the RJD called the CBI a “parrot.” Questioning why the raids were being conducted more than a decade after Mr. Prasad’s term, the party tweeted: “Laluji gave a profit of ₹90,000 crores to the Railways… Laluji recruited lakhs of youth in the Railways and made the porters’ job permanent…but Laluji is being raided after 15 years.”
The party and the current Bihar Chief Minister have alleged that the case is in retaliation to the RJD-JD(U) alliance, and the appointment of Mr. Prasad’s son Tejasvi Yadav to the post of Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister.
