In a significant legal setback for the Rashtriya Janata Dal ahead of Bihar Assembly elections, a Delhi court on Monday framed corruption and conspiracy charges against former Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, and their son Tejashwi Yadav in the IRCTC hotels corruption case.
Special Judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Courts passed the order in the presence of all accused, who pleaded not guilty. The case will now proceed to trial.
The court directed that Lalu Prasad be charged with criminal misconduct as a public servant and criminal conspiracy to commit cheating. Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav will face charges of cheating and conspiracy to commit cheating under Sections 420 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code.
According to the Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheet, a conspiracy was hatched between 2004 and 2014 involving the irregular allotment of operational contracts for two IRCTC hotels in Ranchi and Puri. The BNR Hotels were first transferred from Indian Railways to IRCTC and subsequently leased to Sujata Hotels, a Patna-based private firm owned by Vijay and Vinay Kochhar.
The CBI alleged that the tender process was rigged and manipulated, with conditions tweaked to favor Sujata Hotels. In return for the contracts, Lalu Prasad allegedly received approximately three acres of prime land in Patna through a benami company at a fraction of its market value.
While announcing the order, Judge Gogne made severe observations about the alleged misconduct. "You engaged in conspiracy and abused your position as a public servant. You influenced the tender and manipulated eligibility conditions. You conspired for undervalued purchase of land parcels," the court stated.
The court found "grave suspicion" that multiple individuals engaged in a conspiracy to transfer control of land from the Kochhar brothers to the Lalu Yadav family. It noted that the undervaluation of land parcels and subsequent transfer of shares to Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav raised serious concerns and allegedly caused significant financial loss to the state exchequer.
Evidence presented by the CBI showed modifications in the tender process and interventions by Lalu Yadav during his tenure as Railway Minister from 2004 to 2009 to influence the transfer of hotels.
Lalu Prasad's counsel argued there was no material to frame charges against him and that the tenders were awarded in a fair and transparent manner. However, the court found sufficient prima facie evidence to proceed with the trial.
The chargesheet also names VK Asthana and RK Goyal, former Group General Managers of IRCTC, along with the Kochhar brothers. Two companies, Delight Marketing Company (now Lara Projects) and Sujata Hotels, have been named as accused firms.
The court order comes just weeks before the Bihar Assembly elections, adding to the legal challenges facing the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan alliance. The timing of the charges is likely to impact political equations in the state, where the RJD faces competition from the Nitish Kumar-BJP alliance.
All accused have denied the charges and expressed their intention to contest them during trial.
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