GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 11th April. Tejashwi Yadav, the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, has joined the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation into a land-for-jobs scheme involving his father, former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, and other family members.
Around 10.53 a.m., the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader arrived at the Enforcement Directorate headquarters in the national capital and deposed before the investigators.
Tejashvi joined the ED investigation after the agency summoned him earlier this month in the case.
Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate questioned his sister, Rajya Sabha Member Misa Bharti, in connection with the case.
In March, the ED claimed unaccounted cash of ₹ 1 crore, $1,900, 540 gms gold and 1.5 kg of gold jewellery and other incriminating documents were recovered during the raids conducted at 24 locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna and in Ranchi based on specific intelligence inputs.
The ED had said that they detected about ₹ 600 crore in “proceeds of crime”, which were in the form of immovable properties of ₹ 350 crore and transactions of ₹ 250 crore routed through various ‘benamidaars’.
It is alleged that the Prevention of Money Laundering investigation has so far revealed that the family of Lalu Yadav illegally acquired several plots of land in prominent locations in Patna and other areas in lieu of jobs provided by the Railways.
The current market value of these land parcels is more than 200 crore, and several benamidars, shell entities, and beneficial owners have been identified for these lands.
“A property situated at D-1088, New Friends Colony, Delhi (independent 4 storied bungalow, registered in the name of A.B. Exports Private Ltd, a company owned and controlled by Tejashwi Yadav and family) was shown to have been acquired at a value of mere ₹ 4 lakh, the present market value of which is approximately ₹ 150 crore,” the ED claimed.
According to an official, a large sum of cash and proceeds of crime were used to purchase this property, and a few Mumbai-based entities involved in the gems and jewellery industry were used to channel ill-gotten proceeds of crime in this regard.
“The property has been, though, on paper, declared as the office of A.B. Exports Private Ltd and AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd, is being exclusively used as residential premises by Tejashwi Yadav. During the searches, Tejashwi Prasad was found to be staying at this house and was found to be using this house as his residential property,” the ED alleged.
The agency said their investigation has found that four parcels of lands acquired by the family of Lalu Prasad for just ₹ 7.5 lakh from poor Group-D applicants were sold to former RJD MLA Syed Abu Dojana by Rabri Devi with huge gains at ₹ 3.5 crore.
According to the report, their investigation revealed that a large portion of the money received was transferred to Tejashwi Yadav’s account.
The ED case is based on the CBI’s First Information Report from last year.
The CBI launched a preliminary investigation in September last year in response to allegations that between 2004 and 2009, various persons were appointed as substitutes in Group D posts in various zones of Indian Railways without following guidelines, in exchange for land by unknown public servants.
It is claimed that during Lalu Yadav’s tenure as railway minister from 2004 to 2009, 12 irregular candidate appointments were made in the central railways, in violation of the Indian Railways’ recruitment norms and procedures. Although no advertisement or public notice was issued for the position, some Patna residents were appointed as substitutes in various zonal railways located in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hazipur.
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