In a significant development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has lodged a comprehensive chargesheet against Rabri Devi, the former chief minister of Bihar and leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), along with her daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav. The chargesheet, encompassing 4,751 pages, has been presented before a specialized Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi. The court is slated to commence proceedings on January 16.
The case also involves Amit Katyal, an alleged close aide of RJD chief Lalu Yadav’s family, and several other individuals and companies. Despite Katyal’s arrest in November last year and subsequent attempts to quash ED proceedings against him, the Delhi High Court ruled against it.
While Bihar’s deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and Lalu Yadav have been summoned by the federal agency, they are yet to provide their depositions.
The land-for-jobs scam, unfolding between 2004 and 2009 during Lalu Yadav’s tenure as the railway minister, alleges irregular appointments in the railways, breaching established norms and procedures. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) contends that individuals securing jobs in the railways, either directly or through family members, sold land to Lalu’s family at markedly discounted rates.
Consistently refuting these claims, the Yadav family attributes them to the BJP-led central government’s alleged misuse of central agencies.
