New Delhi [India], May 23 (ANI): The Rouse Avenue court on Friday reserved order on cognisance of the Supplementary charge sheet filed against former Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Land for Job Money laundering case.
Recently, ED filed a Prosecution sanction to prosecute Lalu Prasad Yadav. The President has granted approval through the Union Home Ministry to prosecute Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Special judge Vishal Gogne reserved an order for cognisance of the supplementary charge sheet for June 3.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Manish Jain, alongwith Snehal, appeared for ED. Advocate Akhilesh Singh Rawat appeared for Lalu Prasad Yadav.
After the filing of the Prosecution sanction, an application was made on May 14 to place the sanction on record.
On August 6, 2024 the Enforcement Directorate had filed the Ist supplementary charge sheet against Lalu Prasad Yadav, former deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav and other accused in land for job scam case.
The sanction for Prosecution was awaited since then. Therefore the Cognizance was not taken of the supplementary charge sheet filed against Lalu Prasad Yadav.
The supplementary charge sheet has names of Lallan Chaudhary, Hazari Rai, Dharmender Kumar, Akhileshwar Singh, Ravinder Kumar, Late Lal Babu Rai, Sonmatia Devi, Late Kishun Dev Rai and Sanjay Rai.
Former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti and Hema, alongwith other accused, had already been charge-sheeted by the ED in this case. They were charged without arrest.
On February 28, 2024, the court granted regular bail to Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav and Hridyanand Chaudhary.
On January 27, the court issued a summons to former Bihar CM Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav, Hridyanand Chaudhary, and other accused. Amit Katyal was arrested by the ED during the investigation.
Two firms, namely A K Infosystem and A B Export, have also been accused in this case.
ED had submitted that In 2006-07 A K infosystem was formed by Amit Katyal and its business was IT data analysis. No real business was done. Instead, several land parcels were bought by the company. One land parcel pertains to the main predicate offence that is land for job.
This company was transferred in the name of Rabri Devi and Tejaswi Yadav in 2014 for the consideration of Rs one lakh, the ED submitted.
The Enforcement Directorate on January 9, 2024, filed a Prosecution Complaint (Charge sheet) in the land for job scam money laundering case.
ED submitted that A B Export was supposed to be in the business of export. It was incorporated in 1996. In 2007, Rs. five crore came through five companies and a property in New Friends colony was purchased.
In this case seven land parcels are involved. Out of these Rabri, Hema Yadav, Misa Bharti got land parcels, which they later sold out.
ED’s Special Public Prosecutor had apprised the court that the Yadav family members are beneficiaries of the proceeds of the crime.
Katyal is said to be a close aide of former railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.
The Delhi High Court had refused to quash Enforcement Directorate (ED) proceedings against Amit Katyal, who is accused of engaging in transactions with the family members of the former Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.
According to the ED in the month of March, based on the specific intelligence inputs, searches were conducted at 24 locations at various places in Delhi NCR, Patna, Mumbai and Ranchi in the Railways Land for Job Scam, which resulted in recovery of unaccounted cash of Rs 1 crore, foreign currency including USD 1900, 540 gms gold bullion and more than 1.5 kg of gold jewellery (worth Rs 1.25 Crores approximately), several other incriminating documents including various property documents, sale deeds etc held in the names of family members and benamidaars indicating illegal accretion of huge land bank and electronic devices.
Searches resulted in the detection of Proceeds of Crime amounting to Rs 600 crore, approximately at this point in time, which is in the form of Rs 350 crore worth of immovable properties and Rs 250 crore worth of transactions routed through various benamidaars, ED stated.
The ED PMLA investigation conducted so far has revealed that several pieces of land at prominent locations in Patna and other areas were illegally acquired by the family of the then Rail Mantri, Lalu Prasad Yadav, in lieu of jobs provided in the Railways. The current market value of these land parcels is more than Rs 200 Crore. In this regard, several benamidars, shell entities, and beneficial owners for these lands have been identified.
Further, investigation under PMLA revealed that the property situated at New Friends Colony, Delhi (independent four storied bungalow, registered in the name of M/s A B Exports Private Limited, a company owned and controlled by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and family) was shown to have been acquired at a value of mere Rs 4 Lakh, the present market value of which is approximately Rs 150 Crore.
It is suspected that a huge amount of cash/proceeds of crime has been infused in purchasing this property, and a few Mumbai-based entities, dealing in the gems and jewellery sector, were used to channel ill-got proceeds of crime in this regard.
The property has been, on paper, declared as the office of M/s A B Exports Private Limited and M/s AK Infosystems Pvt ltd, it is being exclusively used as residential premises by Tejasvi Prasad Yadav, son of Lalu Prasad Yadav. During the searches, Tejasvi Prasad Yadav was found to be staying at this house and using it as his residential property.
ED investigation has found that four parcels of land acquired by the family of Lalu Yadav in just Rs 7.5 lakh from poor Group-D applicants were sold to Syed Abu Dojana, Ex-RJD MLA, by Mrs. Rabri Devi with huge gains at Rs 3.5 crore in a collusive deal.
ED investigation further revealed that a major portion of the amount thus received was transferred to Tejashwi Prasad Yadav’s account. Investigations revealed that in a similar fashion, lands were taken from several poor parents and candidates in lieu of Group D jobs in the Railways. It has been revealed during the investigation that in many railway zones, more than 50% of recruited candidates were from Lalu Yadav’s constituencies, stated the ED. (ANI)
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