Land-for-job scam: CBI registers fresh case against Lalu Prasad, others; searches under way
The Hindu
It is alleged that land parcels were given in bribes for recruitment during the tenure of Lalu Prasad as Union Minister of Railways from 2004 to 2009.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday conducted searches at 16 locations in Delhi and Bihar in connection with a fresh case involving former Union Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad and others pertaining to an alleged "land-for-job scam".
"The searches are being carried out in Delhi, Patna and Gopalganj in Bihar," said an official. It is alleged that land parcels were given in bribes for recruitment during the tenure of Mr. Prasad as Union Minister of Railways from 2004 to 2009.
In 2017, the agency had registered a case related to corruption charges in awarding maintenance contracts of the Railway hotels in Ranchi and Puri to Patna-based Sujata Hotels in 2006. The hotels were initially transferred to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation and then to the company.
The CBI had alleged a conspiracy in ensuring that the contracts were given to Sujata Hotels, in lieu of a three-acre commercial property in Patna that was acquired through a front company, Delight Marketing Company.
The company, which had bought the land, was later taken over by Mr. Prasad’s wife Rabri Devi and son Tejaswi Yadav, the agency had alleged.
No room for complacency till counting is completed, Chandrababu Naidu tells TDP-BJP-JSP contestants. The TDP-BJP-JSP alliance will register a comfortable victory in the general elections over the YSRCP, he says. Alleging that the YSRCP has conspired to create disturbances on the counting day, the TDP national president advises the chief counting agents and their teams to see to it that the officials adhere to norms related to counting.