The Enforcement Directorate (ED) took a significant step forward in the land-for-jobs corruption case, filing a supplementary charge sheet against former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his son Tejashwi Yadav, and eight others on Tuesday. The allegations involve a quid-pro-quo arrangement where railway jobs were purportedly offered in exchange for land.
The charge sheet was presented before Special Judge Vishal Gogne and has been scheduled for review on August 13. This legal action stems from a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR, which initiated the probe into these allegations, focusing on incidents that allegedly occurred during Lalu Prasad’s tenure from 2004 to 2009.
According to the ED, the scam involved Group-D railway appointments in the West Central Zone based in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. In exchange for these jobs, land parcels were allegedly transferred to the Yadav family and their associates. The CBI claims that these transactions provided significant financial benefits to Yadav’s family, facilitated through swift and irregular appointment processes.
The investigation highlighted that job candidates were appointed “in undue haste,” typically within three days of their application, and were later regularized under dubious circumstances involving land transfers to the family members of the accused.
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This charge sheet follows the arrest of Bhola Yadav, a former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Lalu Prasad, by the CBI last July. Bhola Yadav was closely associated with Lalu Prasad during the period under scrutiny (2005-2009) and is a key figure in the ongoing investigation.
