Lalu Yadav’s son Tejashwi is currently the Deputy Minister of Bihar.
New Delhi:
In the case of alleged employment fraud during Lalu Prasad Yadav’s tenure as Railways Minister in the Congress-led UPA government over 10 years ago, the CBI today filed an indictment in the courts here against 16 people, including him and his wife Rabri Devi – both former directors. ministers, whose son is currently a Deputy Minister of Bihar.
The agency filed an FIR on May 18 against the couple and their two daughters, Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, in addition to 12 railway workers. Most of them were released on bail.
The main body of the allegation is that more than 1,000 square feet of land belonging to the families of job aspirants in Patna is said to have been transferred to Lalu Yadav’s family in exchange for employment.
The RJD has repeatedly said that this CBI case – and several others against the Yadav family – is “a political conspiracy by the central government of the BJP”. Mr Yadav’s son Tejashwi was recently made deputy minister of Bihar Minister Nitish Kumar after he abandoned the BJP to revive the JDU’s alliance with the RJD.
The allegation in the “job application scam” comes three months after the CBI arrested Lalu Yadav’s aide, Bhola Yadav. Dubbed “Hanuman” or “shadow” of Lalu Yadav by supporters of the RJD by RJD supporters, he was the Special Operations Officer (OSD) for the then Minister of Railways from 2005 to 2009.
Job applicants are said to have been appointed as “substitutes” in Group D positions within three days of “too hasty” application by railway officials. The agency was then placed in regular employment when “individuals or their family members transferred their land”.
The land transfers were made through sales contracts in the names of Rabri Devi and her two daughters, it was further alleged.
