Lalu Yadav Questioned For 10 Hours By Central Agency In Land-For-Jobs Case

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has left the Enforcement Directorate agency office in Patna after he was questioned for nearly ten hours in the central agency's money laundering probe into the alleged land-for-jobs scam. The RJD patriarch was accompanied by his daughter Misa Bharti, also an accused in the case, when he entered the probe agency's office around 11.05 AM.

Mr Yadav's questioning came a day after JDU president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ditched the grand alliance in the state, in which the RJD is the largest constituent.

Mr Yadav's party has targeted the BJP-led central government over the questioning. RJD leader Manoj Jha said that the actions of central agencies will go on till the next general elections are concluded. "This is not an ED summons, but a BJP summons... This will go on till 2024, till then please do not call it ED summons... Why should we be scared?" he said.

Misa Bharti also hit out at the Centre, saying that the actions by the Enforcement Directorate ED against her father reflects that the central government is "afraid" of him.

The alleged scam pertains to the period when Mr Yadav was the railway minister in the UPA-1 government. It is alleged that from 2004 to 2009, several people were appointed to Group "D" positions in various zones of the Indian Railways for which they transferred their land to the family members of the then railway minister Lalu Yadav and a linked company named AK Infosystems Private Limited as bribes.

The Enforcement Directorate or ED had earlier said AK Infosystems Private Limited is allegedly a "beneficiary company" in the case and its registered address in south Delhi's New Friends Colony was being used by Tejashwi Yadav - Lalu Yadav's son and former deputy chief minister of Bihar.

The money laundering case, filed under the criminal sections of the PMLA, stems from a complaint lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that filed a charge sheet in this case earlier. Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav were granted bail by a trial court in October last year in the CBI case.

Earlier this month, the ED filed its first charge sheet in the case and named Lalu Prasad Yadav's wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and their MP daughter Misa Bharti among others as accused. Mr Yadav's another daughter Hema Yadav was also named in the charge sheet.

Last year, the probe agency seized assets worth more than Rs six crore  belonging to Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti and linked companies as part of this investigation.