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A Delhi Court on Friday, January 9, ordered framing of charges against Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his family
members and others in the alleged land-for-job scam. The court framed charges in the case against 41 persons, and discharged 52, which included railway officials and substitutes who did not part away with their land.
Land-for-Job Scam: What Delhi Court Said While Framing Charges
Special Judge Vishal Gogne said Lalu Prasad Yadav used the railway ministry as his personal fiefdom in order to carry out a criminal enterprise, where public employment was used as a bargaining chip to acquire land parcels by the Yadav family in connivance with railway officials and his close aides.
Orally pronouncing the substantive portion of the order, the judge said that the CBI's final report revealed an "overarching conspiracy on the touchstone of grave suspicion." The judge also highlighted the "abuse of decision" by railway officials. "Description of charge sheet constitutes the essentiality and core in the criminality as described," he said.
He also rejected the plea for discharge by the accused, including Lalu Prasad and his family members, as "unwarranted" underlining that the former railway minister and others were "operating as a criminal enterprise to usurp land."
Land-for-Job Scam: All You Need to Know
According to investigators, appointments in the Group-D category of the West Central Zone of the Indian Railways based in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, were made during Lalu Yadav's tenure as the railway minister from 2004 to 2009 in return for land parcels gifted or transferred by the recruits in the names of the RJD supremo's family members or associates, popularly known as the 'Land-for-Job Scam'.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had concluded the probe and filed charge sheets against Lalu Yadav, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, their son Tejashwi Yadav and others in connection with the alleged scam.
The CBI also claimed that the appointments were made in violation of norms and that the transactions involved benami properties, amounting to criminal misconduct and conspiracy.
The accused have denied the charges, claiming the case is politically motivated. The court has posted the matter for formal framing of charges on January 23.
(With agency inputs)
