On Friday (May 20) morning, reports emerged that the Central Bureau of Investigation had registered a new corruption case against Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and his daughter Misa Bharti.
#WATCH Police presence outside the Patna residence of former Bihar CM Rabri Devi as CBI conducts raids at multiple locations of RJD Chief Lalu Yadav in a fresh case relating to alleged 'land for railway job scam'#Bihar pic.twitter.com/mwIdvdT9N3
— ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2022
As per a report in Republic TV, the central agency completed a preliminary inquiry and lodged a First Information Report (FIR) in the case. Citing sources, it informed that the case is linked to a recruitment scam.
As per reports, raids are being conducted by the central agency at 15 locations in connection to the case.
#BREAKING | #LaluPrasadYadavRaided | Lalu Prasad Yadav and daughter Misa Bharti raided. Raids at 15 locations.
— News18 (@CNNnews18) May 20, 2022
RJD’s Mritunjay Trivedi shares his views.@Ashish_Mehrishi shares details.
Join the broadcast with @toyasingh pic.twitter.com/BWfLXtjggX
According to a news report by India Today, raids are underway at 17 places including Patna, Delhi and Gopalganj. The case is linked to a ‘land for job scam’ wherein jobs were offered in exchange for lands and plots.
India Today informed that the scam took place when Lalu Prasad Yadav served as the Railway Minister between 2004 and 2009. “While Lalu Prasad was railway minister, the land was taken in exchange for jobs to certain people,” a CBI source told the news organisation.
While speaking about the development with News 18, RJD leader Mritunjay Trivedi dubbed the case against Lalu Prasad Yadav and his daughter as ‘political vendetta.’ He claimed, “The (BJP) government, in a bid to harass and defame its political opponents, have been using its agencies against them. “
Fodder scam of Lalu Prasad Yadav
Lalu Yadav is also convicted and has served time in the fodder scam case. The scandal was first unearthed in 1996. By then, Lalu Prasad Yadav and his co-accused had siphoned off around Rs 950 crores under the pretence of spending on fodder and other expenses for cattle over many years.
CBI had registered 53 separate cases during the investigation of the scam. Infamous as Chara Ghotala, Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted for the first time in the Chaibasa treasury case on September 30, 2013.
As a result of the conviction, he was disqualified from Lok Sabha and sent to jail for five years. Later, he was granted bail by Supreme Court in December 2013. In December 2017, he was convicted again pertaining to his involvement in the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar treasury.
In April 2022, the RJD leader was again granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court. Counsel for Yadav had stated, “The court has accepted our petition for suspension of the sentence as well and has granted bail. We had pleaded that he has served half of his five-year sentence in this case. Against the sentence of 30 months, our client has already served 42 months in jail in this case.”
