Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 11: Even while stating that it has seized “unaccounted cash” of Rs one crore and detected proceeds of crime worth Rs 600 crores, the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday claimed that the current market value of the land acquired by Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family under the alleged “land-for-job” scam was over Rs 200 crores.
It is alleged that people were given employment in the railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold at cheap rates to the Yadav family and its associates during Prasad’s tenure as the railway minister in the UPA government from 2004 to 2009,
The ED said the investigation was underway to unearth more investments made on behalf of Prasad’s family and their associates in various sectors, including real estate, at various places. The ED had launched raids on Friday at multiple locations linked to Prasad’s family members including that of his son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav in Delhi.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had recently questioned Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi, also a former Bihar chief minister, in the “land-for-job” case.
The ED on Saturday said it had seized “unaccounted cash” of ₹1 crore and detected proceeds of crime worth ₹600 crore after it raided RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s family. “The current market value of land allegedly acquired in exchange for jobs by Lalu Yadav’s family when he was the Railway Minister is approximately ₹ 200 crore, the ED statement claimed.
The central agency also gave a long list of other assets that it alleged Yadav’s family acquired in the case that came to be known as Bihar land-for-jobs scam. “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 railways,” the ED statement said referring to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
“The current market value of these land parcels is more than ₹ 200 crore. In this regard, several benamidars, shell entities and beneficial owners of these lands have been identified,” the ED said.
The Bihar deputy chief minister and Lalu Yadav’s son Tejashwi Yadav was also called for questioning by the CBI in this case on Saturday but he skipped citing personal reasons and has sought a fresh date, officials said. He was questioned on Friday.
The ED statement also said, “Searches at 24 locations in Delhi-National Capital Region, Patna, Mumbai and Ranchi led to the recovery of unaccounted cash of ₹1 crore, foreign currency including $1,900, 540 gms gold bullion and more than 1.5 kg of gold jewellery worth about ₹1.25 crore.” and property documents in the name of Mr Yadav’s family members. “Several other incriminating documents including various property documents, sale deeds, etc. held in the names of family members (of Lalu Prasad) and benamidaars indicating illegal accretion of huge land bank and electronic devices,” it said.
Making a specific mention about Tejashwi Yadav, the ED said a property situated at D-1088, New Friends Colony in south Delhi is an independent 4-storied bungalow registered in the name of AB Exports Private Limited. This company has been called a “beneficiary firm” in this case.
The ED said this company was “owned and controlled” by Tejashwi Yadav and his family and this house was shown to have been acquired at a value of a mere ₹4 lakh while the present market value of which was approximately ₹150 crore.
“It is suspected that huge amount of cash/proceeds of crime has been infused in purchasing this property and few Mumbai-based entities, dealing in the gems and jewellery sector were used to channel ill-gotten proceeds of crime in this regard,” the ED alleged.
“The property has been though, on paper, declared as an office of AB Exports Private Limited and AK Infosystems Pvt ltd, it is being exclusively used as residential premises by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, son of Lalu Prasad Yadav,” it said. During the searches, Tejaswi Prasad Yadav was found to be staying at this house and was found to be using this house as his residential property, the ED said.
The agency said its probe found that four parcels of lands acquired by the family of Lalu Prasad in just ₹7.5 lakh from poor Group-D applicants were sold to Syed Abu Dojana, ex-RJD MLA, by Rabri Devi with huge gains at 3.5 crore in a “collusive” deal. The probe found that a major portion of the amount thus received, was transferred to the account of Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, it said.
Investigations revealed that in a similar fashion, lands were taken from several poor parents and candidates for Group D jobs in the Railways. “It has been revealed during the investigation that in many Railways Zones, more than 50% of recruited candidates were from constituencies of Lalu Yadav and his family members,” it said.
The investigation is underway to unearth more investments made on behalf of Lalu Yadav’s family and their associates in various sectors, including real estate at various places, the ED said. The agency added that while carrying out the searches, all legal formalities were fully observed and due courtesy was extended to the women, children and the senior citizens present at the search premises.
The CBI has already filed a charge sheet in the case against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi and 14 others. Three people have been arrested in connection with the case: Bhola Yadav who was an officer on special duty to Lalu Prasad when he was the railway minister. Hridayanand Chaudhary, a railway employee and an alleged beneficiary of the scandal; and Dharmendra Rai, another alleged beneficiary.
Mr Yadav and leaders of his RJD and even their ally and the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have dismissed all the allegations by the ED as politically motivated. “Action is being taken suddenly after five years. Why didn’t they pursue the case then?” Mr Kumar told reporters on Saturday. He alleged the ED was targeting the RJD after his Janata Dal (United) joined hands with Mr Yadav’s party to form government in Bihar. The JD(U) and BJP earlier ruled Bihar in an alliance.
Tejashwi Yadav’s Delhi house was searched by the CBI on Friday. The ED also searched properties linked to his sister Ragini Yadav and others. Sources close to Tejashwi Yadav had criticised the timing of the move, saying they never expected this kind of vendetta politics from the BJP when his wife is expecting a child. His sister said her family was being “tortured” only because her family has never bent in front of “fascists and rioters”.
“We will remember this injustice. Everything will be remembered. What crime have the sister’s little children committed? What crime has the pregnant sister-in-law committed? Why is everyone being tortured? Everyone is being tortured since this morning. The only crime of these people is that the Lalu-Rabri family did not bow down in front of fascists and rioters. You will get the answer to this injustice when the time comes. Now all this is beyond tolerance,” she tweeted in Hindi yesterday.
Last week, eight opposition parties wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging misuse of central investigation agencies to go after them, amid the political war over the arrest of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia.
“Since 2014, there has been a marked rise in the number of raids conducted, cases lodged against and arrest of the opposition leaders. Be it Lalu Prasad Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena), Azam Khan (Samajwadi Party), Nawab Malik, Anil Deshmukh (NCP), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), central agencies have often sparked suspicion that they were working as extended wings of the ruling dispensation at the centre. In many such cases, the timings of the cases lodged or arrests made have coincided with elections making it abundantly clear that they were politically motivated,” the opposition leaders said in the letter.
