Court frames charges against Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashwi weeks before Bihar election

ANew delhi margaret court on mon framed charges of putrefaction, confederacy and cheating against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi, and their son and leader of Opposition in the state, Tejashwi Yadav, in connection with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels case.The court described Lalu Prasad as the “fountainhead of a criminal conspiracy” who manipulated a railway tender in exchange for land and other favours.The development comes as Bihar heads into a high-stakes assembly elections, to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11, with counting on November 14. The timing of the order, barely weeks before campaigning enters its final stretch, is likely to reverberate across Bihar’s political landscape and may set the tone of the state’s campaign in the weeks ahead.The RJD alleged it was a motivated investigation. “We have been saying this from the beginning that since the elections are coming, all this will happen,” Tejashwi said. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the Opposition of shielding the corrupt. “What Bihar are you going to build when this is your image?” former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked Tejashwi.The case, investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), centres on alleged irregularities in the leasing of two IRCTC hotels — the BNR Hotels in Ranchi and Puri – to a private company, Sujata Hotels Pvt Ltd, owned by Vijay and Vinay Kochhar, during Lalu Prasad’s tenure as Union railway minister. The agency alleges that the tender process was rigged to favour the Kochhars’ firm in exchange for land and company shares transferred to Lalu Prasad’s family at throwaway prices.Framing charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and provisions of the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy and cheating, special judge Vishal Gogne noted that there was prima facie material to show that Lalu Prasad “abused his position” as railway minister to influence the tender process.“A-1 (Lalu Prasad) was prima facie in complete know of the processes relating to the proposed transfer of the BNR hotels at Ranchi and Puri to IRCTC…He did intervene, and that too by oral instructions, on at least two occasions to influence the pace and process of transfer,” the order stated.The judge said the conspiracy was “multi-layered” and involved the Kochhar brothers, senior IRCTC officials, and members of Lalu’s family, who allegedly received land parcels in Patna and undervalued shares through a shell company in exchange for favours extended to Sujata Hotels. “The court has again reached a prima facie finding that the valuation of the shares raises grave suspicion and caused wrongful loss to the state exchequer,” it held.Lalu Prasad, who appeared in court in a wheelchair, pleaded not guilty along with Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav, who were also present. Represented by senior advocate Maninder Singh, they sought trial in the case, which will commence on October 27, when the prosecution begins presenting its evidence.In his defence, Lalu, through his counsel, has submitted that CBI “falsely and maliciously” represented him to have stalled the transaction of Railways Hotels at Puri and Ranchi to IRCTC when the said transaction in terms of the first MOU had already remained in limbo from 2001 to 2004. Yadav further said that he only wanted to temporarily delay transferring catering services of IRCTC and not withhold it. The counsel further argued that any modification or policy changes regarding the IRCTC tenders were temporary and unrelated to the hotels in Puri and Ranchi. He argued that the BNR hotel at Ranchi was duly transferred to the IRCTC in 2005 and the BNR hotel in Puri was transferred to IRCTC in 2006, prior to any activity related to the tenders floated by these two hotels.Singh, on behalf of Rabri and Tejashwi, argued that they were not involved either directly or indirectly, when the land parcels were purchased by DMCPL, and when the tenders were awarded. The counsel argued that no evidence was presented by CBI to establish that either Rabri Devi or Tejashwi Yadav ever interfaced with any of the other accused towards a criminal conspiracy for the alleged quid pro quo arrangement with Lalu Prasad.The court also framed conspiracy and cheating charges against Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav, observing that there was “grave suspicion” over their receipt of undervalued land parcels and shares from the Kochhar brothers through a firm named DMCPL.“What elevates the suspicion to the grade of grave suspicion is that the land and share transactions were possibly an instance of crony capitalism fostered in the garb of eliciting private participation in the railway hotels... Whereby commercial players ingratiated themselves to the then minister of railways by transferring their prime land at Patna to his wife and son,” the order read.Finding the entire transaction “fraudulent,” the court said it did not merit a discharge for any of the accused. It framed common charges of conspiracy and cheating against 10 other accused, including five IRCTC officials and former Union minister Prem Chand Gupta.According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chargesheet, between 2004 and 2014, the BNR hotels were first transferred from the Railways to IRCTC and later leased out to Sujata Hotels for operations and maintenance. The agency alleges that the tender was manipulated to ensure Sujata Hotels’ selection, causing a loss to the public exchequer.The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also filed a money laundering case against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, and their daughter, based on the CBI’s findings. That case, too, is at the stage of arguments on charge.Lalu and his family are simultaneously facing prosecution in the separate land-for-jobs scam, where CBI has accused the former railway minister of accepting land transfers in return for jobs in the Railways between 2004 and 2009. That case also involves his wife, both sons, Tejashwi and Tej Pratap, and daughter Hema Yadav, along with over 70 public servants.The former chief minister was also convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in February 2022 in the Doranda treasury embezzlement case after he was found guilty of illegal withdrawals worth ₹139.5 crore from the Doranda treasury. This was the fifth and final such case in the fodder scam — a set of 55 cases relating to the fraudulent withdrawals of an estimated ₹950 crore from the state treasury, mostly between 1992 and 1995, when Yadav was the chief minister of Bihar. Lalu was also held guilty in four other fodder scam cases, with his punishment ranging between three-and-half years to seven years in jail.