Tejashwi Yadav to Appear for Questioning in Land-for-Jobs Scam Today After CBI's 'No Arrest' Assurance

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The case relates to alleged irregular appointments of Group D substitutes made in the Railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold at a throwaway price to Lalu Prasad's family when he was the railway minister between 2004 and 2009

Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav will appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at 10.30am on March 25 for questioning in a case related to the land-for-jobs scam after the assurance given by the agency before the Delhi High Court that it will not arrest Lalu Prasad’s younger son this month.

Earlier, Tejashwi’s lawyer, senior advocate Maninder Singh, argued in court that if he appeared before the CBI, he would be arrested. Singh submitted that Tejashwi had requested that either he be allowed to appear in the CBI office at Patna or if any information or documents are required from his side, then he shall provide the same through his authorised representative at New Delhi.

The petition filed on March 13 said, “The petitioner (Tejashwi Yadav) is currently holding a constitutional post as he is serving as the deputy chief minister of Bihar, the minister of health, minister of road construction and public works department, minister of urban development and housing as well as the minister of rural works and development in the Bihar government and is thus, a public servant within a meaning of Section 2(c) of the Prevention and Corruption Act, 1988.”

It further stated, “During such period of time, the petitioner did not have any connection whatsoever with the alleged offense and in fact, the petitioner was a minor during such period. However, the respondent issued the impugned notices with mala fide intention to harass the petitioner without having any basis.”

The CBI, meanwhile, told Delhi HC judge Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma that the agency was not planning to arrest Tejashwi. “At this point in time, there is no endeavour to arrest him and he needs to appear as there are documents to be shown. Appearance through video conferencing won’t serve the purpose,” it said.

Noting the submissions by both the parties, Justice Sharma disposed of the petition in which Tejashwi Yadav had sought quashing of summons issued to him by the CBI.

On March 15, Delhi Rouse Avenue court granted bail to former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, his wife and ex-Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, their daughter and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Misa Bharti, and 13 others accused in the land-for-jobs scam.

The case relates to alleged irregular appointments of Group D substitutes made in the Railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold at a throwaway price to Lalu Prasad’s family when he was the railway minister between 2004 and 2009.

The CBI, in its charge sheet, has alleged that recruitment norms and procedures of the Indian Railways were violated during the appointments.

Tejashwi Yadav termed the CBI action as a result of his family’s “relentless opposition” to the BJP. Talking to reporters outside the Bihar Assembly, after the ED raids, Tejashwi Yadav said, “It is an open secret that probe agencies are acting against political opponents of the BJP and helping those who agree to align with that party. ED has raided many places. The information was given that lead of Rs 600 crore was found. Earlier, in 2017, investigation agencies said Rs 8,000 crore was recovered. What happened to those allegations?”

He added: “Whoever is the script writer or the director, they must be changed. They got nothing this time too. Show me the seizure list. Raids were conducted at my sisters’ place who are not even in politics. We are not going to bow down in front of them. We have political ground, ideology and political support. Photos of used jewellery were taken. Most of my sisters were married after 2012. They had nothing to do with the alleged scam.”

Tejaswi Yadav is not chargesheeted in the scam yet but the ED had launched raids on March 10 at multiple locations linked to Lalu Prasad’s family members, including Tejashwi in Delhi.

“Searches resulted in recovery of unaccounted cash of Rs 1 crore, foreign currency including $1,900, 540 gm gold bullion and more than 1.5 kg of gold jewellery (worth Rs 1.25 crore approximately), several other incriminating documents including various property documents, sale deeds etc. held in the names of family members and benamidars indicating illegal accretion of huge land bank and electronic devices. Searches also 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 benamidars,” the ED said in a press release.

A TIMELINE

March 11, 2023: Tejashwi Yadav skips CBI summons citing his wife’s poor health condition

March 10, 2023: ED raids at 24 locations in Patna, Ranchi, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR in money laundering and other investigations related to proceeds of crimes worth Rs 600 crore.

March 7, 2023: The CBI questioned Lalu Prasad for nearly five hours at the Delhi home of his daughter, MP Misa Bharti

March 6, 2023: CBI questions Rabri Devi at her residence in Patna.

February 2023: Rouse Avenue Court summons Lalu, Rabri, Misa Bharti and 13 others to appear before the court on March 15

January 2023: CBI sanctioned to prosecute Lalu Prasad in land-for-job scam case

October 2022: CBI submits chargesheet

August 2022: Raids at the homes of RJD MLC Sunil Singh, MLC Subodh Roy, RJD’s Rajya Sabha MPs Ashfaq Karim and Fayaz Ahmed

July 2022: Close aide and then OSD railways Bhola Yadav arrested by CBI

September 2021: CBI initiates a preliminary investigation into the railway’s land-for-jobs fraud

What is the land-for-jobs scam?

Lalu Prasad served as Union Railway Minister from 2004 to 2009 when the scam allegedly occurred.

The RJD patriarch, his wife Rabri, and his daughters Misa and Hema Yadav were allegedly given land plots as bribes by some individuals hired by the Railways in 2008-2009, in addition to 12 individuals who were given jobs in the Railway zones of Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hajipur, according to the CBI.

Lalu Prasad, while taking advantage of his position as minister of railways during the years 2004 to 2009, transferred landed property into the names of his family members in exchange for the appointment of replacements to Group “D” posts in various railway zones, according to the CBI.

The CBI claimed in the FIR that in place thereof, the substitutes, who were residents of Patna themselves or through their family members, sold and gifted their land located in Patna in favour of the family members of Lalu Prasad and a private corporation owned by family members.

Substitutes in grade D of railways were recruited who joined the service much later after their appointment. These substitutes were later regularised after they submitted fake documents during the recruitment process which were wrongly verified. According to the CBI, no advertisement or any public notice was issued for such appointments and these people were appointed as “substitutes” in different zonal railways at Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hazipur.

As per the agency’s investigation, Lalu Prasad’s family purchased more than a lakh square feet of land in this manner for merely Rs 26 lakh, despite the fact that the land’s actual value is estimated to be more than Rs 4.39 crore.

“About 1,05,292 sq feet of land/immovable properties in Patna were acquired by the family members of said minister through five sale deeds and two gift deeds, showing the payment made to seller in cash in most of the land transfers,” a CBI official informed News18.

In “due haste”, railway officials are said to have substituted the candidates for group D positions within three days of their applications, and they were later regularised “in place thereof of the individuals themselves or their family members donated their land”, according to the agency.