A Delhi court on Monday issued summons to former Union railway minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, daughter Misa Bharti and 13 others in connection with an alleged land-for-jobs scam.
Rouse Avenue Court special judge Geetanjali Goel summoned the above people on March 15 after taking cognizance of a charge sheet filed in October last year by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is probing the case.
In its charge sheet on October 10, CBI named the above 16 people in the case and accused them of taking land from 12 candidates in return for jobs in the Railways, during Lalu’s stint as railway minister between 2004 and 2009.
Besides Lalu, his wife and daughter, former general manager of Central Railways, Soumya Raghavan, former railways chief personnel officer Kamal Deep Mainrai, seven aspirants appointed as substitutes and four private individuals have been named in the charge sheet.
While the federal agency had named Hema Yadav, another daughter of Lalu, in its FIR in May last year, it did not include her name in the charge sheet.
“A perusal of the charge sheet and the documents and material on record, prima facie shows commission of offences under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable documents), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged documents) IPC (Indian Penal Code) and sections 8 (bribing of a public servant), 9 (bribing a public servant by organization), 11 (public servant obtaining undue advantage), 12 (abetment of offence), 13 (2) (criminal misconduct) read with section 13 (1) (d) of PC (Prevention of Corruption) Act, 1988 and substantive offences thereof. Accordingly, cognizance is taken of the said offences,” the court said in its order.
“Issue summons to the accused persons for 15.03.2023,” it added.
Reacting to the summons, RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwary said: “Lalu Prasad has always respected the decision of the court. The people of the country understand that whenever the BJP finds itself on the back foot, it takes help from an investigative agency. Action is taken against the parties who raise their voice against the BJP. Lalu Prasad has become an example of opposition unity, that is why notice has been sent to him.
We are not afraid, we will answer this.”
Dismissing the allegation, BJP state spokesperson Nikhil Anand said: “It is an old case. It is not so that since the Grand Alliance government is in power in Bihar that is why notice has been issued. The way ruling party leaders are doing politics and issuing statements is laughable. They should respect the law and court and keep their views before the court instead of defaming the central agencies.”