In another major setback for Lalu Prasad Yadav, a Delhi court has summoned him and his family, including his son Tejashwi Yadav, who are accused in the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) scam.
Delhi Court issues summons to RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and son Tejashwi Yadav,wife Rabri Devi and others as accused in alleged irregularities in granting operational contracts of two IRCTC hotels to a private firm.
— ANI (@ANI) July 30, 2018
The CBI had earlier filed a chargesheet against 14 members for involvement in the scam and had asserted that there is enough evidence against the accused Lalu Yadav and other members.
The Special Judge Arvind Kumar has now ordered them to appear before the court on August 31. The RJD leader is accused in a case of alleged irregularities, as he had allegedly granted operational contract of two IRCTC hotels in Ranchi and Puri to a private firm, owned by Vinay and Vijay Kochhar, in return for a prime land plot in Patna in 2006.
The CBI, which had on April 16 filed the charge sheet in the case, had said that there was enough evidence against the accused. The CBI had to get prior sanction from the authorities to prosecute B K Agarwal, the additional director of the Railway Board, who was the managing director of IRCTC then.
Apart from Lalu Yadav and his family members, former union minister Prem Chand Gupta and his wife Sarla Gupta, BK Agarwal, then managing director of IRCTC, and then IRCTC director Rakesh Saxena were also named in the charge sheet.
The other accused are the then group general managers of IRCTC V K Asthana and R K Goyal. In addition to them, the directors of Sujata Hotel and the owners of Chanakya Hotel Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar are also made accused in the IRCTC scam.
Lalu Prasad Yadav has been convicted for indulging in fodder scam when he was the Chief Minister of Bihar. He and his family, including daughter Misa Bharati and son Tejashwi Yadav, are facing several cases related to disproportionate assets and also for conducting benami transactions.
Earlier, the Income Tax department has seized the benami properties of Lalu’s daughter Misa Bharti, son-in-law Shailesh Kumar and his son and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav in Gurugram, Delhi and Rewari.
