A Delhi court has granted bail to former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and her son Tejashwi Yadav in the IRCTC scam case.
The bail came a day after the Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad surrendered before a CBI court in Ranchi after the Jharkhand High Court had rejected Lalu’s plea for extension of his bail. The bail was granted to Rabri and her son on a personal bond of Rs one lakh and one surety of the same amount.
Lalu did not appear before the court on Thursday as he is in a Jharkhand jail in another case and a production warrant was issued by the Delhi court special judge Arun Bhardwaj.
The CBI, which had on April 16 filed the chargesheet in the case, had said there were enough evidence against Lalu, Rabri, Tejashwi and others.
The case pertains to allegations that Lalu Yadav, as railway minister, handed over the maintenance of two hotels run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, a subsidiary of the Indian Railways, in Ranchi and Puri to Sujata Hotel, a company owned by Vinay and Vijay Kochhar, in return for a prime plot of three acres in Patna through a benami company.
The FIR alleged that the RJD leader, as the railway minister, abused his official position for extending undue favours to the Kochhar and acquired a “high value premium land” through a benami firm Delight Marketing Company.
As a quid pro quo, he “dishonestly and fraudulently” managed award of leasing of the two hotels.
After the tender was awarded to Sujata Hotel, the ownership of Delight Marketing also changed hands from Sarla Gupta to Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav between 2010 and 2014.
By this time, Lalu Prasad had resigned as railway minister.
The CBI has registered the case against Lalu Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, a former Bihar chief minister, son Tejashwi, who was deputy CM until a few months ago, and Sarla Gupta, wife of Prem Chand Gupta, a former union minister.
Others named as accused in the FIR include Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar, both directors of Sujata Hotels and owner of Chanakya Hotel, Delight Marketing Company, now known as Lara Projects, and then IRCTC managing director P K Goel.
—India Legal Bureau