Land-for-job case: Court reserves order on cognisance of chargesheet

New Delhi, May 23 (PTI) A Delhi court on Friday reserved its order on the point of cognisance of a chargesheet filed against former railway minister Lalu Prasad in alleged land-for-job money laundering case.

Special judge Vishal Gogne reserved the order for June 3 after hearing arguments of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The judge was on May 14 informed that the agency obtained the requisite sanctions to prosecute Prasad in the case in the alleged "land-for-jobs scam" which took place when he was the central railways minister.

President Droupadi Murmu on May 8 granted sanction to prosecute Lalu in the money laundering case.

Murmu accorded the permission as mandated under section 197(1) of the CrPC (Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023).

"The ED has filed an application to bring on record the sanction for prosecution of Lalu Prasad Yadav received from the MHA, GOI," the judge noted on May 14.

Advocate Manish Jain appeared for the ED.

The case was investigated by the ED, which chargesheeted the 76-year-old former Bihar chief minister, his son and former deputy CM of the state Tejashwi Yadav and other family members in August last year.

In January 2024, the ED filed its first chargesheet against an alleged associate of the Prasad family, Amit Katyal, and other family members of Prasad, including his wife and former Bihar CM Rabri Devi, MP daughter Misa Bharti, another daughter Hema Yadav and two associated companies -- A K Infosystems Private Limited and A B Exports Pvt. Ltd.

The court recently took cognisance of both these chargesheets (prosecution complaints).

The case stems from a CBI FIR alleging that Prasad indulged in "corruption" in the appointment of Group D substitutes in the Indian Railways during 2004-2009.

The candidates or their family members were allegedly told to transfer land as a bribe in return for jobs in the Railways, according to the CBI FIR.

These land parcels were directly or indirectly registered in the name of the family members of Lalu Prasad. The CBI has also filed three chargesheets in this case. PTI UK AMK AMK