According to reports, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting raids at the Delhi residence of Tejashwi Yadav, the deputy chief minister of Bihar, in connection with the land for jobs scam investigation. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader’s home is in the New Friends colony in Delhi, where the ED investigators began the raids at 8.30 am.
Not just Tejashwi Yadav’s residence, searches are going on at several other locations in connection with the case. According to reports, several teams of ED are conducting raids at over 15 locations in Delhi, NCR and Bihar. The locations include residents and offices of suspects and beneficiaries of the land for job scam.
Along with Tejashwi Uadav’s house, searches also took place at the residence of former RJD MLA Syed Abu Dojana at Phulwari Sharif in Patna. Premises linked to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughters Misa Bharti, Rohini Acharya, Ragini Yadav, Chanda Yadav, and Hema Yadav are also being reportedly searched by the ED.
Bihar | Enforcement Directorate conducts a raid at ex-RJD MLA Syed Abu Dojana’s premises at Phulwari Sharif in Patna. pic.twitter.com/acIjns71rh
— ANI (@ANI) March 10, 2023
Lalu’s daughter Rohini Adharya criticised the raid at Tejashwi Yadav’s house, questioning the searches conducted at the house of a pregnant woman, referring to Tejashwi’s wife. “We will remember this injustice. Everything will be remembered. What crime have the sister’s little children committed? What crime has the pregnant sister-in-law committed? Why is everyone being tortured? Everyone is being tortured since this morning. The only crime of these people is that the Lalu-Rabri family did not bow down in front of fascists and rioters. You will get the answer to this injustice when the time comes. Now all this is beyond tolerance,” she tweeted in Hindi.
यह अन्याय हम याद रखेंगे। सब याद रखा जाएगा। बहन के छोटे – छोटे बच्चों ने क्या गुनाह किया है ? गर्भवती भाभी ने क्या गुनाह किया है ? क्यों सबको टॉर्चर किया जा रहा है ? आज सुबह से सबको टॉर्चर किया जा रहा है। इनलोगों का गुनाह सिर्फ इतना ही है न कि फासिस्ट और दंगाईयों के आगे कभी
— Rohini Acharya (@RohiniAcharya2) March 10, 2023
Days before the raid, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned his parents, former Bihar Chief Ministers and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi separately, on the scam.
After conducting raids at Rabri Devi’s home in Patna on Monday, a group of CBI officials interrogated her for about four hours. Lalu Prasad Yadav was interrogated in his daughter and Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti’s house in Pandara Park.
His daughter, Rohini Acharya, attacked the Center, for ‘intimidating her ailing old father.’
पापा को ये लोग तंग कर रहे हैं अगर उनके तंग करने के कारण उन्हें ज़रा भी परेशानी होगी तो दिल्ली की कुर्सी हिला देंगे। अब बर्दाश्त करने की सीमा जवाब दे रही है।
— Rohini Acharya (@RohiniAcharya2) March 7, 2023
The properties connected to Lalu Yadav and his family are among those being searched in Delhi, NCR and Bihar by the ED. In Bihar’s Patna, raids are also transpiring at the house of RJD leader and his aide Abu Dojana.
Almost 15 different areas are being searched. The ED simultaneously investigated these premises, which included the homes and businesses of suspects and others who allegedly profited from the purported fraud.
Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi, along with 14 other people are accused by the CBI of engaging in criminal conspiracy and violating the Prevention of Corruption Act. All of them are charge sheeted by the agency.
Special Judge Geetanjali Goel issued summons to the accused persons for March 15 while taking cognizance of the chargesheet.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, the leaders of the opposition parties alleged, that the government was abusing central agencies to settle political scores. Tejashwi Yadav too, was among the signatories.
Nine Opposition leaders including Arvind Kejriwal have written to PM Modi on the arrest of former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case. They have stated that the action appears to suggest that “we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy”. pic.twitter.com/ohXn3rNuxI
— ANI (@ANI) March 5, 2023
The letter listed Lalu Yadav and AAP leader Manish Sisodia, among opposition leaders being pursued by investigating agencies.
What is land for job scam
CBI has alleged, that Lalu Yadav, who served as the minister of railways from 2004 to 2009, received financial benefits in the form of the transfer of landed property into the names of his family members in exchange for the appointment of substitutes to ‘Group D’ posts in various railway zones.
The recruitment took place between 2004 and 2009 without the positions being announced.
According to the agency, up to 12 Patna residents were hired for ‘Group D’ positions. Lalu Yadav’s family received seven parcels of property in the city and elsewhere for a pittance in exchange for these appointments.
The RJD chief’s family reportedly paid Rs 26 lakh for more than 1 lakh square feet of land, even though the circular rate at the time estimated the land’s total value at more than Rs 4.39 crore.
The agency through the investigation discovered that Lalu Yadav’s wife Rabri Devi and daughter Hema Yadav received gifts of land from job seekers who were subsequently hired by the railways.
In addition to the 12 individuals who obtained employment in the railway zones of Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur, those named in the FIR as accused include Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi and his daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav.
