Land for job case: Tejashwi Yadav to appear before ED in Delhi today

Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav said he always cooperated with the central agencies and has full faith in the law. He was earlier questioned in the land for jobs case by the CBI at its headquarters in Delhi.

Patna (Bihar): Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav will appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi on Tuesday for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the land-for-job case. In connection with the same case, Tejashwi Yadav was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last month in New Delhi. Talking to the media while leaving for Delhi from Patna, Yadav said that he has always cooperated with the agency and continues to do so. I have full faith in the law, Yadav said.

On March 25, Yadav was interrogated at the CBI Headquarters in Delhi for several hours. "My family and I cooperated with CBI officials during interrogation before as well. Whatever questions were asked, I responded properly, but the truth is that no such scam has happened", Tejashwi had said after leaving the CBI office. ED also searched his residence in New Friends Colony in South Delhi in his presence. On the same day, his MP sister Misa Bharti was also questioned by the ED in this case.

CBI and ED initiated action in the case with the ED carrying out raids against Lalu Prasad's family and CBI questioning RJD Chief and his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi. The central probe agency alleged that lands were acquired by RJD chief and his family members at throwaway prices in exchange for jobs as substitutes for Group D officers in the Railways.

These irregularities in appointments were made between 2004 and 2009 when Lalu was the then Union Railway Minister. The CBI probing the case had earlier filed a chargesheet. The CBI in its charge sheet stated that these candidates sold their land to the Yadavs at high discounts that went up to a fifth of the existing market rates.