Ashish Ranjan
Land for job scam: In relation to the land job case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned RJD chief and former railway minister Lalu Prasad for two hours on Tuesday. During Lalu Prasad’s tenure as Bihar’s railways minister from 2004 to 2009, according to the CBI, people were given employment on the railroads. Allegedly, the employment opportunities were exchanged for land parcels gifted or sold at low prices to the Yadav family and their associates.
Tuesday at 10:40 a.m., two vehicles carrying seven CBI agents arrived at the residence of Misha Bharti in Pandara Park, Delhi. Lalu Prasad currently resides there, and the interrogation lasted approximately two hours.
CBI teams videotaped his interrogation, and a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) led the investigation. The interrogation was focused on particular documents. Misa Bharti, daughter of Lalu, was also present during her father’s interrogation.
This comes a day after former Bihar chief minister and wife of Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, was questioned for nearly five hours at her residence in Patna.
In October 2022, the CBI filed a chargesheet against sixteen defendants, including Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi, for criminal conspiracy and corruption. According to the complaint, Lalu Prasad and others were charged following the conclusion of a preliminary investigation. The sixteen defendants were all summoned on March 15.
Officials told PTI that the CBI is conducting a new round of interrogations as part of its “further investigation” into the money trail and a larger conspiracy.
Opposition Targets BJP
On Monday, opposition parties responded angrily to the renewed interrogation of the ailing RJD leader.Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister and son of Lalu Prasad, Tejashwi Yadav, stated that the CBI action was a consequence of his family’s “relentless opposition” to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Tejashwi Yadav told reporters outside the Bihar Assembly, “It is an open secret that investigation agencies are targeting political opponents of the BJP and assisting those who consent to align themselves with that party.”
The Congress and the AAP also attacked the central government over Lalu Yadav’s interrogation, claiming that the BJP seeks to “suppress” the opposition’s voice.
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On Twitter, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra stated, “Rabri Devi ji is currently being harassed. Lalu Prasad ji and his family have been persecuted for years for refusing to bend down.”
