Close aide arrested in land for job scam in Bihar

New Delhi, July 27(Reporters Today Bureau): The Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested a close aide of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Yadav in the infamous ‘Land for Job Scam’ in railways during the tenure of Lalu Prasad Yadav as the Railway Minister.

According to sources, Lalu’s close aide Bhola Yadav has been arrested by the agency for his involvement in the scam.

More raids and investigations are likely to follow, the sources said.

Notably, searches were carried out on 16 premises linked to accused persons in Delhi, Patna and Gopalganj in Bihar on May 20 this year follwoing a fresh case registered against former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, his wife, two daughters and 12 others for the appointment of substitutes to the Railways’ Group-D posts allegedly in exchange for land parcels.

The searches then were carried out on 16 premises linked to the accused persons in Delhi, Patna and Gopalganj in Bihar. Among those arraigned in the case are Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and daughters Misha Bharti, a Rajya Sabha Member, and Hema Yadav.

The case is the outcome of a CBI preliminary enquiry initiated on September 23, 2021, into the charge that during 2004-09, when Lalu Yadav was the Railway Minister, several persons were appointed as substitutes to the Group-D posts in zones, in lieu of land. They were later regularised.

The agency alleged that no advertisement or public notice was issued for the appointments. The applications submitted by the beneficiaries were not properly addressed to the departments concerned. However, they were processed in alleged violation of the set guidelines. “…undue haste was shown in processing certain applications of candidates and, surprisingly, within three days from the date of receipt of the respective applications, their appointments as substitutes were approved,” said the First Information Report (FIR).

According to the FIR, several residents of Patna were appointed as substitutes in the railway zones located at Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur, in exchange for land parcels transferred in the name of Lalu’s family members and a company, AK Infosystem Private Limited.

The agency alleged to have identified seven such instances, including one in which four members of a family were appointed in 2008.

It is alleged that three sale deeds were executed in favour of Rabri Devi, one land was transferred in the name of Misa Bharti and another “sold” to AK Infosystems, whose assets were later taken over by Lalu’s wife and a daughter in 2014.

Two land parcels were initially transferred to Hridyanand Choudhary, a Gopalganj resident, and Lalan Choudhary from Siwan. They later executed gift deeds in favour of Hema Yadav, at the time when each was worth ₹62.10 lakh as per the circle rate.

The CBI alleged that about 1,05,292 sq ft of land situated in Patna was acquired by Lalu’s family members through the five sale deeds and two gift deeds. In most cases, payment to the sellers was shown to be in cash. The current circle-rate value of the seven parcels of land, including the land acquired through gift deeds, is over ₹4.39 crore.

The land parcels directly transferred were purchased at prices — ranging from ₹3.75 lakh to ₹13 lakh — lower than the then prevailing circle rates, the FIR alleged.