Lalu Yadav Can Now Be Charged By The CBI In The Land-For-Jobs Case

According to the CBI, the three more suspects were still awaiting a sanction.

New Delhi: On Tuesday, the CBI informed a Delhi court that it had got the necessary authorization from the relevant authorities to bring charges against former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in a case involving an alleged land-for-jobs scam.
The agency informed Special Judge Geetanjali Goel that the three additional suspects were still awaiting a sanction. The judge took notice of the arguments and scheduled a follow-up hearing for September 21.

The charge sheet against the 75-year-old RJD president and his other family members was submitted by the CBI on July 3. Both in this and other cases involving the fodder fraud, he is free on bond.

“It is said that Lalu Prasad Yadav has received sanction, and that this sanction has been recorded. But approval for three further people—Maheep Kapur, Manoj Pande, and Dr. P. L. Bankar—is still pending; it is suggested that this will happen within the next week. On September 21, 2023, put up for same,” the judge said on Tuesday.

After the central investigation agency requested it, Special Judge Geetanjali Goel gave the CBI time.

In connection with the alleged scam, a charge sheet was filed on July 3 against Lalu Prasad, his wife, the former chief minister of Bihar Rabri Devi, and their son, the state’s deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav.

The CBI had submitted two charge sheets in the case, but this was the first one in which Tejashwi Yadav was included as a defendant.

In addition to the three Yadav family members, 14 other people and organizations were identified in the charge sheet by the federal agency.

In addition to the terms of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the accused have also been charged under parts of the Indian Penal Code that deal with criminal conspiracy, deception, and other offenses.

According to officials, the case relates to Group-D appointments made in the Western Central Zone with a base in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, between 2004 and 2009 while Lalu Prasad served as the railway minister in exchange for recruits gifting or transferring land parcels in the name of the RJD supremo’s family or associates.

On May 18, 2022, the agency filed a complaint against Lalu Prasad and 15 other people, including his wife, two daughters, and various unnamed state employees and private individuals.

Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, and others were named in the CBI’s initial charge sheet, which was submitted in October of last year. It had to do with appointments made in the Central Zone of the Railways, which has its headquarters in Mumbai.

At a pivotal conference in Patna on June 23, more than a dozen opposition groups, including Lalu Prasad’s RJD, decided to oppose the BJP collectively in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Days later, the second charge sheet was released.

“The INDIA alliance has been established. The BJP is thus anxious. Speaking to reporters, Lalu Prasad Yadav remarked, “They are alleging one thing or another.

The RJD leader added that Lord Krishna will find a solution to the Sanatana Dharma dispute because the Almighty is great.

The silence of Rahul Gandhi, Nitish Kumar, and Lalu Prasad Yadav on the “Sanatana Dharma” issue was questioned earlier on Thursday by Union Minister Giriraj Singh.

“Five days have passed after Udhayanidhi Stalin’s statement…Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rahul Gandhi, and Nitish Kumar are silent…When do they plan to talk? Will these individuals not speak without eradicating Sanatan Dharma? said Giriraj Singh.

He continued, “If Rahul, Nitish, and Lalu do not accept responsibility for their actions, then the nation’s Sanatana and Bihar’s Sanatana will not forgive them.”

Udhayanidhi Stalin’s comments on “Sanatana Dharma” caused a great deal of uproar across the country. In a statement earlier that day, Udhyanidhi clarified his remarks on “Sanatan Dharma,” questioned the BJP leaders for misrepresenting him as “inciting genocide,” and said that they were doing so as a means of self-defense.

The administration, according to the opposition, was engaging in “drama” just because they banded together and referred to themselves as INDIA. Leaders of the BJP have backed the government’s action with fervor.

Additionally, opposition parties responded earlier this week after Rashtrapati Bhawan issued invites for a G20 luncheon on September 9 on behalf of the “President of Bharat.”