On Saturday, March 11, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) informed that they had recovered unaccounted cash of Rs 1 Crore, foreign currency including USD 1900 (₹1.55 lakh), 540 gms gold bullion and more than 1.5 kg of gold jewellery in the raids it carried out on Friday in multiple cities of Bihar against former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family in connection with the land for job scam case.
The federal investigation agency added that the searches resulted in the detection of Proceeds of Crime amounting to Rs 600 Crore approximately at this point in time.
“Searches resulted in detection of Proceeds of Crime amounting to Rs 600 Crore approximately at this point of time which is in the form of immovable properties of Rs 350 Crore and transactions of Rs 250 Crore routed through various benamidaars,” the ED said in a statement.
ED conducted searches at 24 locations in the Railways Land for Job Scam, resulting in recovery of unaccounted cash of Rs 1 Crore, foreign currency including US$ 1900, 540 gms gold bullion and more than 1.5 kg of gold jewellery.
— ED (@dir_ed) March 11, 2023
The Enforcement Directorate Friday conducted searches at 24 locations in Delhi NCR, Patna, Mumbai and Ranchi in the Railways Land for Job Scam. It had also raided the Delhi residence of Tejashwi Yadav, the deputy chief minister of Bihar, in connection with the land for jobs scam investigation. The searches were done based on specific intelligence inputs.
Along with Tejashwi Yadav’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 were also reportedly searched by the ED.
According to the agency, it has also recovered a number of other incriminating documents, including various property documents, sale deeds held in the names of family members, and benamidars suggesting the illicit acquisition of large land banks. Apart from these, electronic devices were also seized during the raids.
According to a press release issued by the ED, the inquiry has found that multiple plots of property in prominent places in Patna and other localities were illegally obtained by the family of then-Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in exchange for jobs in the railways. The department said that the present market value of these land parcels is more than Rs 200 crore.
According to the agency, the probe revealed that a property in New Friends Colony in Delhi, registered in the name of M/s A B Exports Private Limited, a firm owned and controlled by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and his family, was purchased for merely Rs four lakhs. It was stated that the current market value of this property is about Rs 150 crores. ED also found that this property was being used as a residence of Tejashwi Yadav, even though it is registered in the name of his firm and declared as an office.
“It is suspected that a huge amount of cash/Proceeds of Crime has been infused in purchasing this property and few Mumbai-based entities, dealing in the gems and jewellery sector were used to channel ill-gotten proceeds of crime in this regard. The property has been though, on paper declared as office of M/s A B Exports Private Limited and M/s AK Infosystems Pvt ltd, it is being exclusively used as residential premises by Tejasvi Prasad Yadav, son of Lalu Prasad Yadav. During the searches, Tejasvi Prasad Yadav was found to be staying at this house and was found to be using this house as his residential property,” the ED statement said.
The ED further added that it has found that 4 parcels of lands acquired by the family of Lalu Yadav in just Rs 7.5 Lakhs from poor Group-D applicants were sold to Syed Abu Dojana, Ex-RJD MLA by Rabri Devi with huge gains at Rs 3.5 crore in a collusive deal.
“ED investigation further revealed that a major portion of the amount thus received, was transferred to the account of Sh. Tejashwi Prasad Yadav. Investigations revealed that in a similar fashion, lands were taken from several poor parents and candidates in lieu of Group D jobs in the Railways. It has been revealed during the investigation that in many Railways Zones, more than 50% of recruited candidates were from Lalu Yadav families’ constituencies. Further investigation in this regard is ongoing,” it said.
1458 sales deeds recovered, ‘Gifted’ land deeds signed by Rabri Devi as beneficiary accessed
It may be recalled that last year, CBI probing the land-for-job scam that dates back to Lalu Yadav’s tenure as the Union Railways Minister, recovered as many as 1458 sales deeds during the raids at the premises of several RJD leaders in Bihar.
CBI sources had then said that the agency is also in possession of a hard disk that has a list of candidates who gave their lands to Lalu Yadav in lieu of jobs in the Railways.
It was further reported that Bhola Yadav, the then OSD to former Railway Minister Lalu Yadav, confirmed to the agency that several candidates, despite forged documents, got appointed in Railways after they allegedly gifted land to the Lalu Yadav family when the RJD supremo was the Railway Minister in the UPA government.
Meanwhile, Republic TV has accessed ‘gifted’ land deeds that have the signature of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi as the beneficiary.
The land-for-job scam and its alleged links to Lalu Prasad Yadav
It may be recalled that the CBI initiated a preliminary enquiry in September 2021 into the charges that when Lalu Prasad Yadav was the railway minister during UPA 1, he obtained benefits in the form of the transfer of property in the names of his family members in exchange for the appointments of substitutes in Group “D” posts in various Railway zones. CBI had found that a number of residents of Patna obtained jobs in the Railways in different zones in the country after they had gifted, or sold at very low prices, lands in Patna, Delhi and other places, to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family or to a company controlled by the family.
On May 18, 2022, CBI filed a new case of corruption against Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, and his daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, accusing them of obtaining land plots as bribes from some people who were recruited in the Railways. The CBI also named 12 others in this case who were given jobs in the railway zones of Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hajipur.
In the FIR, CBI alleged, “In lieu thereof, the substitutes, who were residents of Patna themselves or through their family members, sold and gifted their land situated at Patna in favour of the family members of Lalu Prasad Yadav and a private company controlled by family members, which was also involved in the transfer of such immovable properties in the name of family members.”
According to the agency, 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 in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hajipur.
The CBI investigations revealed that Lalu’s family obtained over one lakh square feet of land in this manner for just Rs 26 lakh, despite the fact that the land’s actual value is over Rs 4.39 crore.
The land for Railways job scam is another major scam involving Lalu Prasad Yadav, after the well-known fodder scam. He has been convicted in multiple cases registered in the scam, while some other cases are still being head by courts.
