The Rouse Avenue Court of Monday granted bail to Lalu Yadav and eight other accused, including his son Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav, in the land-for-job scam. The court granted bail to all the nine accused noting that they were chargesheeted without arrest.
The court has granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each. The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for October 25. While granting the bail, the court asked all the accused to surrender their passports.
The case, in which the accused were summoned after taking cognisance of a supplementary chargesheet, pertained to Group-D appointments made in the West Central Railway Zone in Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) when Lalu was Railways Minister, allegedly in return for land parcels for his family and associates.
The money laundering case stems from a complaint lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which filed a chargesheet in the case earlier. The CBI had alleged that Rabri and son Tejashwi Yadav took control of AK Infosystems in 2014 for just Rs 1 lakh, at Rs 10 per share when the company had owned land worth Rs 1.77 crore.
The CBI chargesheet noted that the company, in 2017, “suddenly” paid back Rs 1.35 crore to the promoter-director at a time which coincided with an Income Tax raid on Lalu.
It is the first time that the court has summoned Tej Pratap Yadav in the Land for Job case. The court had said that a large amount of land was transferred and that the Yadav family misused their position. The court had said that the land was transferred in the name of the Yadav family.
Earlier on September 20, the Ministry of Home Affairs permitted the prosecution of former chief minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav in a money laundering case related to land for job scam.
The Home Ministry has given approval to prosecute Lalu Yadav on the final charge sheet of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the related case. There are other more than 30 accused for whom prosecution sanction is awaited. The CBI sought 15 more days to obtain sanctions against other accused persons.
