“Current market value…”: Probe Agency’s postscript after the Yadavs raids

The ED searched 24 locations in the National Capital Region of Delhi, Patna, Mumbai and Ranchi

New Delhi:

The current market value of land allegedly acquired in exchange for jobs by Lalu Yadav’s family when he was Minister of Railways is around Rs 200 crore, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said today in a press release.

The central agency also gave a long list of other assets it said were acquired by Mr Yadav’s family in the case known as the Bihar job search scam.

“The PMLA investigation conducted so far revealed that several plots of land located at prominent locations in Patna and other areas were illegally acquired by the Rail Mantri Lalu Prasad Yadav family instead of jobs provided in the railways,” the ED said in a statement. today, referring to the law on the prevention of money laundering.

“The current market value of these plots of land is over Rs 200 crore. In this regard, several benamidars, fictitious entities and beneficial owners of these lands have been identified,” the ED said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also summoned Mr Yadav’s son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav for questioning in connection with the land-for-jobs scam.

The ED said searches at 24 locations in the National Capital Region of Delhi, Patna, Mumbai and Ranchi led to the recovery of unaccounted cash of Rs 1 crore, foreign currency of 1,900 $, 540 gram gold bars, over 1.5 kg of gold jewelery worth Rs 1.25 crore. and property documents in the name of Mr. Yadav’s family members.

The ED alleged that four plots of land acquired by Mr Yadav’s family for just Rs 7.5 lakh from poor Group D candidates were sold to former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Syed Abu Dojana by Mr Yadav’s wife, Rabri Devi, for Rs 3.5 crore in a “collusion”. OK”.

He alleged that a large part of the amount was sent to Tejashwi Yadav’s account.
“…During the survey, in many railway areas, more than 50% of the candidates recruited came from the constituencies of the Lalu Yadav families. Further investigation in this regard is ongoing,” the ED said in the statement.

Mr Yadav and his RJD leaders and even their ally and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dismissed all ED allegations as politically motivated.

“Measures are taken suddenly after five years. Why didn’t they pursue the case then? Mr Kumar told reporters today. He alleged that the ED was targeting the RJD after his Janata Dal (United), or JD (U), joined Mr Yadav’s party to form the Bihar government. The JD(U) and BJP previously ruled Bihar as part of an alliance.

Tejashwi Yadav’s house in Delhi was raided by the CBI yesterday. The ED also searched properties linked to his sister Ragini Yadav and others.

Sources close to Tejashwi Yadav had criticized the timing of the move, saying they did not expect this kind of vendetta politics from the BJP as his wife is expecting a child. Her sister said her family was “tortured” only because her family never bowed to “fascists and rioters”.

“We will remember this injustice. Everything will be remembered. What crime did the sister’s grandchildren commit? What crime did the pregnant sister-in-law commit? Why is everyone being tortured? Everyone has been tortured since this morning. The only crime of these people is that the Lalu-Rabri family did not bow down to the fascists and the rioters. You will have the answer to this injustice when the time comes. Now this is all beyond tolerance,” she tweeted in Hindi yesterday.

Eight opposition parties wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week alleging misuse of central investigative agencies to prosecute them, amid the political war over the arrest of party leader Aam Aadmi (AAP) , Manish Sisodia.

“Since 2014, there has been a marked increase in the number of raids, complaints lodged and arrests of opposition leaders. Be it Lalu Prasad Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena), Azam Khan (Samajwadi Party), Nawab Malik, Anil Deshmukh (NCP), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), central agencies have often raised suspicions that they worked as extended wings of the ruling dispensation at the center. In many such cases, the timing of cases being filed or arrests being made coincided with elections, which very clearly shows that they were politically motivated,” the opposition leaders said in the letter. .