Lalu Prasad Yadav Conspired With IRCTC Officials To Illegally Enrich His Family: Alleges CBI In IRCTC Scam Case

Central Bureau of Investigation presented its arguments in the IRCTC Scam before the Rouse Avenue Court today. The case has multiple accused persons including former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Chief Minister of Bihar Rabri Devi and their son Tejashwi Yadav.

The counsel for the CBI laid down the entire chain of events that allegedly amounted to a criminal conspiracy between Lalu Prasad Yadav and the then high-level officers from the Railway Board and IRCTC to illegally enrich the Yadav family.

The scam dates back to 2006 when Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Railway Minister. Tenders for operating BNR Hotels in Puri and Patna was given to a company called M/S Sujata Hotels Pvt Ltd. which is owned by Vinay Kochhar by manipulating the tendering process to benefit the said company. It was pointed out by the Prosecutor that the technical requirements for the tender were unreasonably formulated and the deadline was arbitrarily extended to make Kochhar's company most eligible for the tender. 'Despite the fact that 13-15 companies had applied, the tender documents for both the hotels show only one other company apart from Sujata Hotels as bidders', the Prosecutor quoted.

The conspiracy did not end here. It is also alleged that, after the allotment of the tender, Sujata Hotels transferred land in prime location to a benami company called Deluxe Pvt Ltd. Later on, the majority of the funds in this benami company was transferred to Lalu Prasad Yadav who later converted it into an LLP and made his wife and his son the complete owners of the same. Moreover, the said land was sold at a throwaway price and was marked as 'agricultural land' to avoid substantial stamp duty.

The counsel for the CBI then went on to read out the statements of the Prosecution Witnesses to substantiate her claims. She had also pointed out that the inquiry report showed that Lalu Prasad Yadav constantly monitored the tendering process and hatched a criminal conspiracy with the other accused persons to illegally enrich his family.