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Rashtriya Janta Dal Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was granted interim bail till 19th January, 2019 by a Delhi courtin two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) scams. The cases were duly filed by the investigating agencies CBI and Enforcement Directorate.
Special Judge Arun Bharadwaj granted interim bail to Lalu Prasad Yadav only after he was produced before the court via video conference from a jail in Ranchi, he is serving there as a prisoner because of fodder scam case. Because of his health reasons Prasad was unable to make it to the National Capital.
The case forms its basis on the fact that there were discrepencies in operation of the contract of two IRCTC hotels to a private firm. The Central Bureau of Investigation has rightly mentioned that there was sufficient evidence against Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and his son Tejashwi Yadav. The Additional General of Railway Board B K Agrawal who was serving in the the position of general manager of the IRCTC during that time has also been accused.
Besides them, former Union minister Prem Chand Gupta, his wife Sarla Gupta, then managing director of IRCTC PK Goyal and then IRCTC director Rakesh Saxena were also named as accused in the chargesheet. Among others named in the chargesheet are -- then group general managers of IRCTC VK Asthana and RK Goyal and Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar, both directors of Sujata Hotels and owners of Chanakya Hotel.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has mentioned that the charges in the case include criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption. Sujata Hotel Private Limited which is based in Bihar was unduly advantaged because of the tender process being rigged and manipulated. It was also claimed that three acres of land were sold in the form of commercial property by Vinay Kochar in Patna through 10 sale deeds worth Rs. 1.47 crore to Delight Marketing, where Sarla Gupta was acting as a director (front benami holder) on behalf of Lalu Prasad Yadav. BNR hotels in Ranchi and Puri were identified and it is important to note that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between IRCTC and the railways on March 19, 2004.
The CBI enquiry has claimed that Lalu Yadav was aware about the whole process that the railways had sought bids for developing, operating and maintenance of the Rail Ratna Hotels and was keeping a track of the tender proceedings and around 15 bid documents could be surfaced and it is also significant to note that pecuniary gains were rendered to Sujata Hotels.
Lalu Prasad Yadav served as Union Railways minister from 2004 to 2009. It is imperative that based on the Central Bureau of Investigation case, the Enforcement Directorate also lodged a case of money laundering against Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and others.
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