Sanction against Lalu obtained from home ministry, says CBI in Delhi court

The CBI on Tuesday apprised a Delhi court that sanction against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad has been obtained from the Home Ministry in a fresh charge sheet in a case related to an alleged land-for-job scam.

The probe agency, however, informed Additional Sessions Judge Geetanjali Goel of Rouse Avenue Court that sanction against the three railway officials is yet to be received. 

On August 8,  the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had stated that sanction has still not been received in respect of "accused Lalu Prasad Yadav, Maheep Kapur, Manoj Pande and Dr. P.L. Bankar".

In July, the court had granted CBI time to obtain sanction to prosecute Yadav and other officials. Goel had granted time to the probe agency as it made a prayer to that effect.

On Tuesday, CBI submitted that the remaining sanctions are expected to be received within a week. The judge then listed the matter for hearing next on September 21.

CBI had registered the case on May 18, 2022 against Lalu and 15 others, including his wife, two daughters, and unidentified public servants and private persons.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July said it has attached assets worth more than Rs 6 crore belonging to Lalu Prasad's family -- his wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti -- and linked companies as part of its money laundering investigation against them in the case.

CBI had, on July 3, filed a charge sheet against Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi and their son and Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav.

CBI through its Special Public Prosecutor Advocate D.P. Singh had apprised the court that a fresh charge sheet is filed in the case, despite a charge sheet already being filed because the alleged act is committed with a different modus operandi.

The court was also informed that sanctions are awaited against Lalu and three others.“During the period 2004-2009 Yadav had obtained pecuniary advantages in the form of transfer of landed property in the name of his family members in lieu of appointment of substitutes in Group ‘D’ posts in different Zones of Railways,” the CBI official had earlier said.

A number of residents of Patna themselves or through their family members sold and gifted their land in favour of the family members of Yadav and a private company controlled by Yadav and his family.

“No advertisement or any public notice was issued for such appointment of substitutes in Zonal Railways, yet the appointees, who were residents of Patna, were appointed as Substitutes in different Zonal Railways located at Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur.

“In continuation of this modus operandi, about 1,05,292 Sq. feet land, immovable properties situated at Patna were acquired by Yadav and his family members through five sales deeds and two gift deeds, showing the payment made to seller in cash in most of the land transfer,” the CBI had said.

In its first charge sheet, the CBI said that irregular appointments had been made in the Railways in violation of the standards and guidelines established by the Indian Railways for hiring.

It is alleged that the candidates gave Yadav’s family members land at extremely reduced prices -- up to one-fifth of the going market rates -- directly or through their close relatives and family members.

The CBI had filed the charge sheet in the case on October 10, 2022, against 16 persons, including Rabri Devi and daughter, and sanction was then obtained to prosecute them.