Lalu Prasad Yadav’s former Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Bhola Yadav, was detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday in connection with an alleged land-for-job scheme.
Searches are being conducted in four districts of Bihar.
In May of this year, the CBI submitted an FIR in the “land for railway job” case, along with a number of other people, Lalu Yadav, his wife, and his daughters were named as defendants.
In May, the CBI searched 17 places in Delhi and Bihar that belonged to Lalu Yadav and his family.
According to the FIR, a number of individuals were hired into group D positions in various railway zones from 2004 to 2009 in exchange for land by unidentified public servants of the Indian Railway, who later regularised them.
The Indian employees of the department that was in charge during the relevant period provided instructions, guidelines, etc for the appointment of substitutes in Group D posts in the Railways.
According to an investigation, some people who were Patna, Bihar residents, were appointed to Group D posts between 2004 and 2009 in various railway zones in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hajipur. In exchange, the people or members of their families transferred their land into the names of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family, the Government of India’s then-Minister of Railways.
“Out of seven instances of land transfer, it is revealed that three were executed in favour of Rabri Devi, wife of Lalu Yadav; one sale deed was executed in the name of Misha Bharti, daughter of Lalu Prasad Yadav; and one sale deed was executed in favour of M/s AK Infosystems Private Limited, in which later Rabri Devi became a major shareholder, in the year 2014; and currently she is one of the directors of the company. Two gift deeds were executed in favour of Hema Yadav, daughter of Lalu Prasad Yadav,” it read.
The investigation has, at least on the surface, suggested that Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Minister of Railways for the Government of India, obtained a financial benefit in the name of his family members in the form of land in the matter of the appointment of substitutes in group D posts in various railway zones.