CBI questioned Lalu Prasad Yadav for five hours on Tuesday. (File photo)
The Central Bureau of Investigation, or CBI, reopened its probe against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family in the alleged land-for-jobs scam after pressure from their political masters in the BJP, Janata Dal (United) has said.
"Case against Lalu Yadav is pure vendetta. The CBI had closed the case twice due to lack of evidence. Now, after Nitish Kumar joined hands with the RJD, the case has now been opened again. How did the CBI suddenly get a witness," Janata Dal (United) president Rajiv Ranjan Singh, better known as Lalan Singh, told NDTV.
The CBI, he said, was being forced to file cases against opposition leaders as the BJP is scared of them. "The current government is using central agencies to target the opposition. They have been targeting their political opponents not just in Bihar, but in other states also," he said.
Incidentally, the CBI's case against the RJD leader in the land-for-jobs scam is based on a complaint filed by Lalan Singh in 2008.
A day after questioning former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi at her home in Patna, the probe agency on Tuesday questioned former union railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the same case. The probe agency's team questioned him for five hours.
The CBI case is based on accusations that Mr Yadav and his family members bought land at cheap rates in exchange for jobs during his tenure as Union Railway Minister from 2004 to 2009.
Besides the Yadav couple and their daughters Misa and Hema, the FIR, registered in May 2022, names 12 people who allegedly got jobs in exchange for land. In July last year, Mr Yadav's aide and former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Bhola Yadav was arrested by the CBI in the case.
Eight Opposition parties had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging misuse of central agencies for the BJP's political motives. Among the signatories was Rabri Devi's son and Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav.