Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the deputy chief minister of Bihar received a fresh summons from the Enforcement Directorate on 23rd December in relation to a railway land-for-jobs scam. He is reportedly asked to appear on 5th January. The 34-year-old had already been summoned to appear on 22nd December, but he ignored. The Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo and former chief minister of Bihar, his father Lalu Prasad Yadav has been summoned to be present on 27th December at the headquarters of the agency located in Delhi.
On 20th December the officials informed that the agency sent summons to the father and son duo. The ED office asked that the latter appear before investigators on 22nd December 22 while the former was assigned a date of 27th December to record their statements per the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). This is senior Yadav’s first summon in this case while the agency had questioned his son on 1st April.
The Enforcement Department found Rs 600 crore in illicit gains from the RJD first family and unexplained cash worth Rs 1 crore during searches at Lalu and his family members’ homes in March of this year. The agency then conducted searches at twenty-four places finding $1900 in foreign currency, 540 grams of gold bullion, and more than 1.5 kg of gold jewelry.
The most recent summons were sent out one month after Amit Katyal, a close family friend of the Lalu Yadav clan was taken into custody by the agency in November. It previously announced in a statement that he was the director of the business named A K Infosystems Private Limited when it purchased land from candidates “on behalf” of the politician.
The agency mentioned, “The registered address of the company is D-1088, New Friends Colony, New Delhi, which is the house belonging to Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members. Several other lands were also acquired by Amit Katyal in the said company in return for giving undue favours by Lalu Prasad Yadav when he was minister of railways.” It added that in 2014 following the purchase of the land, the company’s shares were “transferred” to Yadav family.
Lalu Prasad Yadav was the railway minister under the Congress-led coalition government from 2004 to 2009 when the land-for-job scam was carried out. According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), appointments were made irregularly in the railways which were going against the established standards and protocols of Indian railroads for hiring. It further stated that those who were employed by the railways as “substitutes” either directly or via family and relations sold land to the union minister’s family at “highly discounted rates” and a linked company named A K Infosystems Private Limited.
The ED case is predicated on a May 2022 CBI FIR on the matter. Furthermore, 12 other individuals who were hired by the Railways in 2008–09 are included in the report besides Lalu Yadav, former chief minister of Bihar and his wife Rabri Devi and their daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav.
The candidates were regularised when they handed land to the Yadav family, but only after being selected as substitutes in group D positions within three days of their “undue haste” application, according to the CBI. It disclosed that the transfers were effected through two gift deeds in the person of Hema Yadav, three sale deeds in the name of Rabri Devi, and one in the identity of Misa Bharti.
Furthermore, the agency claimed that Lalu’s family members purchased 1.05 lakh square feet of land in Patna by paying cash to the sellers. Additionally, a charge sheet against Lalu Yadav and fifteen other people, including Rabri Devi has been submitted by the CBI.
