The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday filed a criminal case against RJD leader and former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, his family members and former Managing Director of IRCTC on charges of corruption.
The agency also carried out searches at 12 locations, including Delhi, Patna, Ranchi, Puri and Gurgaon in this connection.
As soon as news of the search operations became public, the government and the BJP quickly distanced themselves from them. Minister for Information and Broadcasting M Venkaiah Naidu said the government and the BJP have no role in the CBI action.
The CBI, he said, was doing its duty in accordance with its mandate under law. The agency has also filed cases against a private person, two Directors of a private company, a private marketing company and unknown others for allegedly awarding the tender for development, maintenance and operation of hotels at Ranchi and Puri to a private company dealing with hotels in 2006.
Clickhereto read the tangled web of lalu's, and his family's, deals PDF
“The case is of criminal conspiracy (120-B), cheating (420) under IPC and corruption,” Additional Director CBI Rakesh Asthana said here while addressing the media.
Transfer of hotels Asthana said that between 2004 and 2014, Lalu Prasad had transferred the BNR Hotels of Indian Railways in Puri and Ranchi to IRCTC and thereafter to a Patna-based private firm, Sujata Hotel Pvt Ltd, for its operations, maintenance and upkeep.
These transfers took place at a nominal price. The land, which cost ₹32 crore, was transferred for just ₹65 lakh to Lara Projects, allegedly owned by Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav and Sarla Gupta, wife of former Union Minister Prem Chand Gupta.
“The allegation is that the tender process was manipulated and the conditions were tweaked to help the private party (Sujata Hotel). In return, three-acre land in western Patna was given to Delight Marketing, which is known to Lalu Prasad’s family, at low cost; between 2010 and 2014, this land was further transferred to another company, Lara Projects, owned by Lalu Prasad’s family,” he said.
Others named as accused in the FIR include Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar, both directors of Sujata Hotels, and owner of Chanakya Hotel, Delight marketing company, now known as Lara Projects, and the then IRCTC Managing Director PK Goel.
The case was filed on July 5 following a preliminary enquiry, which found that the land was sold by the Kochhars to Delight and the payment for the same was arranged “surreptitiously” by the company in the form of an investment of Delight through Ahluwalia Contractors and its promoter Bikramjeet Singh Ahluwalia.
The CBI is expected to conduct more searches in the future as the investigation proceeds.