IRCTC land scam case: Delhi court grants bail to Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav

Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Friday granted bail to former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and her son and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav in the IRCTC land scam case. The accused have to furnish a personal bond and surety amount of Rs 1 lakh each.

The CBI court also issued a production warrant against Lalu Prasad Yadav for October 6. The former Bihar chief minister did not appear before the court today as he is serving time in a Ranchi jail after conviction in fodder scam cases.

The first chargesheet was filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav and 13 others in connection with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) scam. The agency also named RJD leader and Union minister Prem Chand Gupta, his wife Sarla Gupta and a firm Lara projects in the chargesheet.

The former CM and the IRCTC officials have been accused of allegedly misusing their position for granting sub-lease of the rights of two railway hotels at Puri and Ranchi to Ms Sujata Hotel Pvt. Ltd. owned by Vijay and Vinay Kochhar.

In return, 358 decimal of land was transferred to Ms Delight Marketing Company Pvt Ltd (a company owned by family of P C Gupta who is a close associate of Prasad and an MP from RJD) in February 2005 at a rate lesser than the then market value.

The agency has accused that Rabri Devi and her son Tejashwi got a valuable piece of land transferred to their name by way of share purchase at nominal prices. It further said that that the purchase was made using funds of ‘dubious origin’ and had been laundered through several groups of companies.

The charges in the case include criminal conspiracy (120-B), cheating (420) under IPC and corruption, CBI had said.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC)