Tejashwi Yadav, the deputy chief minister of Bihar, joined the Enforcement Directorate inquiry into a land-for-jobs case involving his father Lalu Prasad Yadav and other family members on Tuesday. About 10.53 am, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader arrived to the Enforcement Directorate’s national headquarters in the capital and was deposed in front of the investigators. Tejashvi joined the ED inquiry after being served with a summons by the agency earlier this month. The Enforcement Directorate had already questioned Misa Bharti, his sister and a Rajya Sabha member, in relation to the matter.
In March, the ED said that during searches carried out at 24 sites in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, and Ranchi based on specific intelligence inputs, unaccounted cash totaling Rs 1 crore, $1,900, 540 gms of gold, 1.5 kg of gold jewellery, and other incriminating papers were discovered. According to the ED, they found roughly Rs 600 crore in “proceeds of crime,” including Rs 350 crore in moveable property and Rs 250 crore in transactions that were channelled via several “benamidaars.”
The family of Lalu Yadav allegedly unlawfully bought a number of plots of land at significant places in Patna and other regions in exchange for positions offered in the Railways, according to the Prevention of Money Laundering investigation that has so far been undertaken. These land parcels have a current market worth of more than Rs 200 crore, and a number of benamidars, shell companies, and beneficial owners have been discovered.
According to the ED, “a property located at D-1088, New Friends Colony, Delhi (an independent 4-story bungalow, registered in the name of A.B. Exports Private Ltd, a company owned and controlled by Tejashwi Yadav and family) was shown to have been acquired at a value of mere Rs 4 lakh, the current market value of which is approximately Rs 150 crore”) was shown to have been acquired at a value of mere Rs 4 lakh.
An official said that many Mumbai-based businesses involved in the gem and jewellery industry were utilised to channel ill-gotten earnings of crime in this respect and that a significant sum of cash and revenues from crime were used to buy this property.
“Tejashwi Yadav uses the property only as a place of residence, even though it has been listed on the title as the office of A.B. Exports Private Ltd and AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd. Tejashwi Prasad was discovered to be residing at and utilising this home as his primary residence throughout the searches “said the ED.
The agency said that their inquiry revealed Rabri Devi sold four property pieces to former RJD Lawmaker Syed Abu Dojana for a profit of Rs 3.5 crore after buying them from the family of Lalu Prasad for barely Rs 7.5 lakh each from underprivileged Group-D applicants. According to the statement, subsequent research showed that Tejashwi Yadav’s account got the bulk of the money that was thus received. The CBI’s First Information Report filed in the case last year served as the foundation for the ED case.
The CBI opened a preliminary investigation in September of last year in response to claims that a number of individuals were improperly recruited as replacements in Group D positions in various Indian Railways zones between 2004 and 2009 in return for land by unidentified public employees.
It is claimed that between 2004 and 2009, while Lalu Yadav served as railway minister, 12 irregular candidate appointments were made in the central railways, in violation of the recruiting policies and processes of the Indian Railways. There was no public notice or advertising for the employment, but a few Patna locals were given temporary positions in the zonal railroads in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hazipur.
