New Delhi: The Central Bureau of investigation (CBI) questioned former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav Tuesday in the job-for-land scam – a day after the agency interrogated his wife Rabri Devi.
The CBI has accused the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo, his wife – also a former chief minister — their two daughters Misa and Hema and 12 others in the case where railway land was allegedly procured at dirt cheap prices in lieu of handing out jobs.
This apparently took place under the tenure of Lalu Prasad Yadav when he was Railways minister between 2004 and 2009.
The probe agency questioned Yadav in his daughter Misa bharti’s Pandara Road house in New Delhi.
The CBI registered an FIR in 2022 and its chargesheet said the accused, in conspiracy with the then GM and CPO of Central Railways, engaged persons as “substitutes” in lieu of land either in their name or in the name of their close relatives.
This land was acquired at prices lower than the prevailing circle rate and much lower than the market rate, the statement said, adding, the candidates submitted false attested documents to the Ministry of Railways.
Ironically, eight opposition parties shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi just two days ago – after the arrest of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia – and alleged that the “misuse” of central agencies suggests that the country has “transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy”.
Among the signatories was Lalu Prasad’s son and Bihar’s deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav.
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