Job scam: Lalu faces new CBI chargesheet

Press Trust of India  

New Delhi: The CBI on Monday filed a charge sheet against Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, his father and former railway minister Lalu Prasad, and mother and former chief minister Rabri Devi in connection with the land-for-jobs scam, officials said.

Though this is the second charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case before a special court here, it is the first time that Tejashwi Yadav has been named as an accused. Besides the three members of the Yadav family, the federal agency has named 14 individuals and entities in the charge sheet.

The accused have been charged under Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy, cheating and others in addition to provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. This comes days after over a dozen opposition parties, including Lalu Prasad’s RJD, resolved to take on the BJP unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections at a crucial meeting in Patna on June 23.

The CBI’s case pertains to Group-D appointments for ‘substitutes’ made in Western Central Zone based in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh during Lalu Prasad’s tenure as the railway minister from 2004 to 2009 in return for land parcels gifted or transferred by the recruits in the name of Lalu Prasad’s family or associates, according to officials.

The agency had registered the case on May 18, 2022 against Lalu Prasad and 15 others including his wife, two daughters, and unidentified public servants and private persons. A probe into similar recruitment in other railway zones is going on and will be part of future charge sheets, the officials said.

The CBI had filed the first charge sheet in the case in October last year against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi and others pertaining to the appointments in the Central Zone of Railways based in Mumbai. During the probe, the agency said on Monday, a hard disk was found at 10 Circular Road, Patna, which was used by Lalu Prasad as his camp office, containing a list of 1,458 candidates who were engaged in the Railways during his tenure.