New Delhi: In a major relief to former union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members, the Rashtriya Janta Dal supremo, his son and Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and Lalu's wife Rabri Devi have been granted bail by the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi in the land for jobs 'scam' case on Wednesday, sources said.
It is learnt that the Rouse Avenue Court on Wednesday granted bail to Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav on a personal bond of Rs 50,000. On Wednesday, Tejashwi, Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi appeared in Rouse Avenue Court to seek bail after they were summoned by the court on Sept 22. Lalu and his family members appeared in the court of special CBI judge Gitanjali Goyal where the court granted bail to all the accused.
The next hearing of this case will be on 16 October. It can be recalled that on September 23, taking cognizance of the second supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI on July 3, the court had issued summons to Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and ordered him to appear in the court on October 4. Apart from Tejashwi, the court had also issued summons to all 17 other accused including Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi.
Also read: Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court summons Lalu Prasad Yadav, others in alleged land for jobs scam
Three railway officials are also included in the list of the accused. All of them will also have to appear in the court to seek bail. It is noteworthy that on Sept 22, CBI had told the court that it has received permission from the Central Government to prosecute three former railway officials accused in the case. Earlier on Sept 12, the investigating agency had informed the court about getting permission from the Central Government to prosecute former Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.
In the second supplementary charge sheet filed on July 3, CBI has accused 17 people including Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, son and Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav, the then GM of West Central Railway (WCR), two CPOs of WCR. Tejashwi's name appeared for the first time in the second supplementary charge sheet in the case.
The case is related to the Group D recruitments of Railways done in the Western Central region of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh by former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav when he was the Railway Minister from 2004 to 2009. CBI has accused Lalu Yadav and other accused of providing jobs to aspirants in lieu of land.
It was also alleged that no advertisement or any public notice was issued for such appointments in the Zonal Railways, yet the appointed persons hailing from Patna, Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata were appointed as officiating officers in various zonal railways located at Jaipur and Hajipur. Earlier searches were conducted at many places including Delhi and Bihar in the case.
Investigators alleged that the former Union Railway Minister intended to acquire land parcels located at places where his family already had land parcels or places which were already owned by him.
