The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the money laundering angle in the alleged land-for-jobs scam, has alleged that an employee who worked at the ‘gaushala’ of former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad’s wife Rabri Devi acquired a property from a railway job aspirant and later transferred it to the RJD supremo’s daughter Hema Yadav.
The ED also said that companies AK Infosystems Private Limited and AB Exports Pvt Ltd were shell companies that received proceeds of crime for family members of Lalu Prasad Yadav.
The central probe agency said immovable properties were acquired in the companies by frontmen and then shares were transferred to family members of Lalu Prasad Yadav for nominal amounts. A person named Amit Katyal managed these companies for Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family.
This was mentioned by the ED in a preliminary chargesheet filed this month before a special PMLA court. The chargesheet, filed under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), named Amit Katyal, Rabri Devi, Misha Bharti (Lalu Yadav’s daughter), Hema Yadav, and Hridyanand Chaudhary as accused.
The special court took cognisance of the chargesheet on January 27 and issued notices to the accused persons to be present on February 9, 2024, for commencement of trial.
Katyal was arrested by the ED in November last year. He is currently in prison.
On Monday, the ED questioned the 75-year-old Lalu Prasad at its Patna office for around 10 hours even as a large number of RJD workers protested and shouted slogans against the BJP government.
Lalu Prasad’s son and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav has been called for questioning in the case on Tuesday.
The ED started an investigation into the case on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI in the alleged land-for-jobs scam in 2022.
The case pertains to alleged corruption when Lalu Prasad Yadav served as Union Railway Minister in the UPA-1 government from 2004 to 2009. The central probe agency has alleged that people were given jobs in the Railways allegedly in lieu of land plots.
Last year, the ED conducted search operations on March 10 in connection with the case and seized cash worth Rs 1 crore and valuables equivalent to about Rs 1.25 crore.
The ED has also provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 6.02 crore on July 29, 2023.
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