The CBI questioned Rabri Devi in the identical case yesterday.

New Delhi:

A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation questioned former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi at her house in Patna in reference to an alleged land-for-jobs rip-off, the probe company in the present day reached her daughter Misa Bharti’s Pandara Road home to query former union railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the identical case. The CBI case, which names the Yadav couple and their daughters Misa and Hema, amongst others, relies on accusations that Mr Yadav and his relations purchased land at low cost charges in change for jobs throughout his tenure as Union Railway Minister from 2004 to 2009. 

Besides the veteran politician, his spouse and his daughters, the FIR, registered in May 2022, names 12 individuals who allegedly bought jobs in change for land. In July final yr, Mr Yadav’s aide and former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Bhola Yadav was arrested by the CBI within the case.

Notably, eight Opposition events had simply two days again shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging misuse of central businesses for the BJP’s political motives. Among the signatories was Rabri Devi’s son and Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav. The letter referred to former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Yadav amongst opposition leaders focused by central businesses. It stated the strikes of central businesses “had often sparked suspicion that they were working as extended wings of the ruling dispensation”.

BJP leaders in Bihar have asserted that the CBI was “doing its job as an independent agency” in circumstances in opposition to RJD president Lalu Prasad who was “reaping what he had sown”.

The CBI filed a chargesheet final yr underneath the offences of conspiracy and corruption. The FIR alleges that some folks, regardless of being Patna residents, had been appointed as substitutes in Group-D posts in railway zones of Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hajipur. In return, it’s alleged, these people transferred possession of their land to Mr Yadav’s relations and an organization later taken over by the household.

In some circumstances, it’s alleged, land was transferred to the Yadavs at throwaway charges. The appointments, the CBI case says, had been made in violation of the rules laid down by the Railways.

The RJD leaders have trashed the allegations, tagging them politically motivated. Rabri Devi final week stated the BJP is fearful of Mr Yadav. “We won’t run away. We are facing these allegations for the past 30 years. BJP is scared of Lalu Yadav in Bihar.”