Delhi High Court rejects Lalu Yadav's plea to cancel CBI FIR in land-for-jobs case
India Today
Lalu Yadav had argued that the FIR, the probe and the chargesheets in the land-for-job case were legally unsustainable, claiming that the CBI had not obtained prior sanction.
In a significant setback to former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to quash the CBI FIR in the alleged land-for-jobs scam, ruling that the petition was “devoid of merit”.
Justice Ravinder Dudeja dismissed Yadav’s plea, which had also sought the quashing of three chargesheets filed in 2022, 2023 and 2024, along with subsequent orders taking cognisance of the case. “The petition, being devoid of merit, is dismissed,” the court said while pronouncing the verdict. A detailed order is awaited.
Yadav had argued that the FIR, the probe and the chargesheets were legally unsustainable, claiming that the CBI had not obtained prior sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. However, the High Court rejected this contention, holding that the agency had secured the requisite sanction, thereby allowing the investigation to stand.
The case, registered by the CBI on May 18, 2022, names Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, two daughters, unidentified public officials and private persons as accused. The 77-year-old RJD leader and others are currently out on bail.
The alleged scam relates to Group D appointments made in the West Central Zone of the Indian Railways, based in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, during Yadav’s tenure as railway minister between 2004 and 2009. According to the CBI, these appointments were made in return for land parcels that were “gifted or transferred” by candidates or their families to Yadav’s relatives or associates.
The High Court’s ruling comes amid ongoing legal proceedings in the case. Just a day earlier, on March 23, the court had sought the CBI’s response to a separate plea filed by Rabri Devi challenging a trial court order that denied her access to 1,600 “unrelied documents” — materials collected during the investigation but not relied upon in the chargesheet.
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