Lalu Yadav, Sushil Modi spar over ‘mall scam’

What began a week ago as a routine political allegation of corruption is taking an uglier turn. Dharmanirapeksh Swayamsevak Sangh (DSS), formed by Lalu Prasad Yadav’s son Tej Pratap Yadav, showed black flags to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who arrived on Monday on a three-day visit to Bihar and Jharkhand. While police kept the demonstrators at bay, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi attributed the protests to the Yadavs’ frustration at being exposed for corruption.

The under-construction mall in Danapur on the outskirts of Patna is valued at ₹500 crore by BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. Meridian Construction Private Limited, the company constructing the mall, puts the valuation at ₹60 crore. The owner of the construction company, RJD MLA Abu Dojana, concedes that once the construction is completed, the valuation of the mall – occupying seven floors and said to be the biggest in the state – could go up to ₹110 crore or so.

“Yes, my sons own the property. What is illegal about it? And anyone can buy or sell land,” declares the RJD leader who believes the BJP is trying to discredit all Opposition leaders.

Sushil Modi alleges a scam. The mall, he claimed, was owned by the two sons of Lalu Prasad Yadav with an investment of just ₹4 lakh, he added, promised to give a return of ₹500 crore.

The charge is vehemently denied by Dojana, who says while the land was owned by a company with the two sons of Lalu Yadav holding the majority shareholding, he was making the investment for construction on the understanding that after construction, half the outlets would be owned by him and the other half to sons of Lalu Yadav.

Modi scoffs at the defence. The land, he alleges, belonged to the Kocchars, who own Chanakya Hotel in Patna. They sold off the plot to Lalu Yadav in return of getting the Railway Hotels at Ranchi and Puri on lease when Lalu Yadav was the Union Railway Minister between 2004 and 2009.

Lalu Yadav does not deny it outright. The Kocchars sold the land to a company owned by Premchand Gupta – widely believed to be the one who manages the RJD leader’s investment – 22 months before the lease for the hotels was granted to them. The policy decision, he points out, was taken by the NDA Government when Nitish Kumar was the Railway Minister on March 19, 2004. It was in 2014 that Gupta sold his shares to Lalu Yadav’s wife Rabri Devi, who in turn gifted them to her sons.

Unfazed Modi has said that while the policy decision may have been taken by the NDA Government, the transfer of the land and lease of the hotels were both done when Lalu Yadav was the Railway Minister.

Lalu rubbishes this allegation too. The hotels were not sold to the Kocchars but given on a 15-year lease. And they were the highest bidders, he says with a smirk. “If you would have been the highest bidder, I would have given the hotels to you… Check the records and see if I am wrong. One can see all the railway records – there were no favours granted”.

“Baseless,” is his response to the allegation that the soil dug out from the site of the mall was being delivered to the biological park without any tender.

“Sushil Modi kya bolega? Sau chuhe khakar, billi chali haj ko. Main bhi uski sachhai expose karunga (Who cares what Sushil Modi says? He himself is guilty of corruption. I will expose him,” he roars.