The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Saturday, alleged they have detected ₹600 crore worth of proceeds of crime so far in the land-for-job scam in which RJD president Lalu Prasad has been accused of amassing wealth in the name of his family members and associates while offering Group D appointments during his stint as Railway Minister in the UPA regime.

Of the ₹600 crore, immovable properties valued at ₹350 crore and transactions of ₹250 crore routed through various benamidaars too have been identified, the ED stated in an official statement.

The probe conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has revealed that “the current market value of these land parcels is more than ₹200 crore,” ED charged. In this regard, several benamidaars, shell entities, and beneficial owners for these lands have been identified, the agency revealed.

Also read: CBI questions Lalu in land-for-job scam

Sharing details of the Lalu family properties that are under a cloud, the ED stated D-1088, an independent 4-storied bungalow in Delhi’s posh New Friends Colony, is owned by his son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav’s company - M/s A B Exports Private Limited. The bungalow was shown to have been acquired for merely ₹4 lakh, but its present market value is approximately ₹150 crore, the agency alleged. “It is suspected that a huge amount of cash/proceeds of crime has been infused in purchasing this property and a few Mumbai-based entities, dealing in the gems and jewellery sector, were used to channel ill-gotten” funds into it, the agency charged.

The ED pointed out that though the New Friends Colony property has been on paper declared as an office of M/s A B Exports Private Limited and M/s AK Infosystems Pvt ltd, it is exclusively used as a residence by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav. During the searches on Friday, he was found to be staying at this house. He was questioned by the sleuths in the case as well to ascertain details of questionable assets in his name.

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The ED, based on the specific intelligence inputs, had also carried out searches at 23 other locations in Delhi NCR, Patna, Mumbai, and Ranchi to gather more evidence of the scam. “Searches resulted in the recovery of unaccounted cash of ₹1 crore, foreign currency, including $1,900, 540 grams gold bullion, and more than 1.5 kg of gold jewellery (worth ₹1.25 crores approximately),” the ED stated. Besides that, electronic devices and several other incriminating documents, including various property documents, and sale deeds in the names of family members and benamidaars were also recovered, which indicated illegal accretion of a huge land bank. Among the places searched were also Lalu’s three daughters and Syed Abu Dojana, a former RJD MLA.

The ED said its investigation has unravelled that 4 parcels of lands acquired by Lalu’s family just for ₹7.5 lakhs from poor Group-D applicants were sold to RJD leader Syed Abu Dojana by former Bihar CM Rabri Devi with a huge gain of ₹3.5 crore in a collusive deal. A major portion of the amount received, alleged the ED, was transferred to the account of Tejashwi.

This is how, claims ED, lands were taken from several poor parents and candidates in lieu of Group D jobs in the railways. It has been revealed during the investigation that in many Railways Zones, more than 50 per cent of recruited candidates were from the Lalu family’s constituencies. The ED is proceeding ahead with the investigation to unearth more investments made on behalf of Lalu’s family and their associates in various sectors, including real estate, at various places.

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