PATNA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has reportedly conducted a raid on several properties linked to the family of Lalu Prasad Yadav, former chief minister from Bihar, and claimed that a Delhi bungalow worth over Rs 150 crore, which was acquired on paper for Rs 4 lakh, was part of the family’s assets. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was present in the bungalow when it was raided. ED also allegedly seized jewellery and cash worth crores from the house of one of Lalu’s daughters, Ragini Yadav.
Tejashwi received a summons for questioning by the CBI in connection with the land-for-jobs case but skipped it citing the health conditions of his pregnant wife. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had broken his alliance with RJD in 2017 citing corruption charges, questioned why ED and CBI were acting against Lalu Prasad and his family after a gap of five years and after he had left the BJP and joined hands with the RJD to form a government in the state. JD(U) national president Lalan Singh described the situation as “an undeclared emergency.”
The property was registered in the name of M/s A B Exports Private Limited, a company owned and controlled by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and family, according to ED. The same property is also the registered address of M/S AK Infosystems, which earlier had Tejashwi’s mother and former Bihar CM Rabri Devi as well as his sisters Ragini and Chanda as directors. As per ED, AK Infosystems received land from a railway job aspirant as part of the alleged scam.
The ED claims that “four parcels of land were acquired by the family of Lalu Yadav for just INR 7.5 lakh from poor Group-D (railway jobs) applicants and were sold to Syed Abu Dojana, Ex-RJD MLA, by Mrs Rabri Devi, with huge gains at INR 3.5 crore in a collusive deal”. The agency alleges that a major portion of the amount was transferred to the account of Tejashwi. The ED has filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in 2016 based on a CBI probe into allegations that people were given employment in the Railways – when Lalu was the Railway Minister – in return for land parcels gifted or sold at cheap rates to the Yadav family and associates.
The ED searches were spread across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Patna, Ranchi and Phulwari Sharif, and properties allegedly linked to Chanda, Ragini, their sister Hema, and former RJD MLA Abu Dojana were among those searched. The ED said that the searches resulted in the detection of proceeds of crime amounting to INR 600 crore approximately at this point of time, which is in the form of immovable properties of INR 350 crore and transactions of INR 250 crore routed through various benamidaars.
