Hours after being questioned in a land-for-jobs case, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday left the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in New Delhi on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Bihar Deputy CM joined the Enforcement Directorate investigation in a land-for-jobs case involving his father and former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and other family members. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader reached the Enforcement Directorate headquarters here in the national capital around 10.53 am and was deposed before the investigators.
Tejashvi joined the ED investigation following the agency’s summons issued against him earlier this month in the case.
Earlier, his sister and Rajya Sabha Member Misa Bharti were questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the case.
In March, the ED claimed unaccounted cash of Rs 1 crore, $1,900, 540 gms gold and 1.5 kg of gold jewellery and other incriminating documents were recovered during the raids conducted at 24 locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna and in Ranchi based on specific intelligence inputs.
The ED had said that they detected about Rs 600 crore in “proceeds of crime”, which were in the form of immovable properties of Rs 350 crore and transactions of Rs 250 crore routed through various ‘benamidaars’.
It is alleged that the Prevention of Money Laundering investigation conducted so far has revealed that several pieces of land at prominent locations in Patna and other areas were illegally acquired by the family of Lalu Yadav in lieu of jobs provided in the Railways. The current market value of these land parcels is more than Rs 200 crore and several benamidars, shell entities and beneficial owners for these lands have been identified.
“A property situated at D-1088, New Friends Colony, Delhi (independent 4-storied bungalow, registered in the name of A.B. Exports Private Ltd, a company owned and controlled by Tejashwi Yadav and family) was shown to have been acquired at a value of mere Rs 4 lakh, the present market value of which is approximately Rs 150 crore,” the ED claimed.
An official claimed that a huge amount of cash and proceeds of crime were used in purchasing this property and few Mumbai-based entities, dealing in the gems and jewellery sector, were used to channel ill-gotten proceeds of crime in this regard.
“The property has been though, on paper, declared as the office of A.B. Exports Private Ltd and AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd, is being exclusively used as residential premises by Tejashwi Yadav. During the searches, Tejashwi Prasad was found to be staying at this house and was found to be using this house as his residential property,” the ED alleged.
The agency said their investigation has found that four parcels of lands acquired by the family of Lalu Prasad for just Rs 7.5 lakh from poor Group-D applicants were sold to former RJD MLA Syed Abu Dojana by Rabri Devi with huge gains at Rs 3.5 crore.
It said their investigation has further revealed that a major portion of the amount thus received, was transferred to the account of Tejashwi Yadav.
The ED case is based on the CBI’s First Information Report registered in the case last year.
A preliminary inquiry was launched by the CBI in September last year amid allegations that various persons were appointed as substitutes in Group D posts in different zones of Indian Railways between 2004 and 2009, without following guidelines, in exchange for land by unknown public servants.
It is alleged that during Lalu Yadav’s tenure as railway minister from 2004-09, 12 irregular candidate appointments were made in the central railways, violating the norms and procedures of the Indian Railways for recruitment. No advertisement or public notice was issued for an appointment but some residents of Patna were appointed as substitutes in different zonal railways located at Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hazipur.