CBI seeks time to procure prosecution sanctions against Lalu Yadav, others in land-for-job scam

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday informed the Rouse Avenue Court that it will take a month to procure prosecution sanctions against former Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and certain railways officials in relation to the fresh chargesheet filed in land-for-job matter.
Noted the CBI's submissions Special Judge Geetanjali Goel deferred the arguments on the point of cognisance for August 8. Recently, CBI has filed a chargesheet in a land-for-job alleged scam case of former Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav naming Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and others including Tejashwi Yadav etc.
According to the CBI, this is the 2nd chargesheet in the Designated Court against 17 accused including the then Union Minister of Railways, his wife, son, then GM of West Central Railways(WCR), then two CPOs of WCR, private persons, private company etc. in a case related to Land for Job Scam
CBI had registered a case on May 18, 2022, against the then Union Minister of Railways and 15 others including his wife, two daughters and unknown public servants and private persons.
It was alleged that the then Union Minister of Railways during the period 2004-2009 had obtained pecuniary advantages in the form of transfer of landed property in the name of his family members etc. in lieu of appointment of Substitutes in Group “D” Post in different Zones of Railways.
It was further alleged that in lieu thereof the substitutes, who were residents of Patna themselves or through their family members sold & gifted their land situated at Patna in favour of the family members of said Minister and a private company controlled by his family members, which was also involved in transfer of such immovable properties in the name of said family members.
It was also alleged that no advertisement or any public notice was issued for such appointments of substitutes in Zonal Railways, yet the appointees who were residents of Patna were appointed as Substitutes in different Zonal Railways located at Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hazipur.
Searches were earlier conducted at multiple places including in Delhi and Bihar etc, said CBI.
During the investigation, it was found that the then Union Minister of Railways with intent to acquire the land parcels situated at the places where his family was already owning land parcels or the places which were already connected to him entered into a conspiracy with associates & family members and allegedly derived a design to grab the land of various land owners by offering/providing group D employment in Railways, CBI said.
The accused had allegedly collected applications and documents of such candidates through associates and then sent those to West Central Railway for processing and providing jobs in Railways and the General Managers of West Central Railways under the influence /control of the accused accorded approval for the engagement of candidates.
For providing jobs in Railways, they allegedly devised an indirect way wherein the candidates were engaged firstly as Substitutes and subsequently, were regularized. A hard disk containing lists of candidates (who were engaged) was also recovered during searches.
It was further alleged that a land parcel was purchased in the name of a private company at Rs.10.83 lakh in 2007 and subsequently, the said land along with some other land parcels purchased by the said company, were brought into the ownership/control of his wife & son of then Union Minister of Railways by way of transfer of shares at Rs one lakh only. At the time of transfer, the company was allegedly owning land parcels purchased at a total cost of Rs1.77 crore(approx) and it was transferred for a mere Rs.1 Lakh(approx) only, however, the market value of the lands was much more.
A chargesheet was filed on October 7, 2022, against 16 accused. The investigation is underway, CBI informed the court.