The CBI conducted searches at 16 locations in Delhi and Bihar on Friday in connection with a new case involving former Union Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad and others involving an alleged “land-for-job scam.”
“Searches are being conducted in Delhi, Patna, and Gopalganj, Bihar,” a source said. During Mr. Prasad’s tenure as Union Minister of Railways from 2004 to 2009, it is alleged that land parcels were given as bribes for recruitment.
The agency filed a case in 2017 alleging corruption in 2006 awarding of maintenance contracts for railway hotels in Ranchi and Puri to Patna-based Sujata Hotels. The hotels were first given to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, then to the company.
The CBI claimed that the contracts were given to Sujata Hotels in exchange for a three-acre commercial property in Patna acquired through a front company called Delight Marketing Company.
According to the agency, Mr. Prasad’s wife Rabri Devi and son Tejaswi Yadav took over the company that had purchased the land.
‘Is CBI raid a warning for Nitish?’
“Is the CBI raid at Mr. Prasad’s places a warning to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar because of his growing proximity to RJD leader and younger son of Mr. Prasad, Tejashwi Yadav?” Shivanand Tiwari, a senior RJD leader who is close to Mr. Prasad, wondered in response to the searches. It’s possible that it made the BJP uncomfortable. At the very least, the raids’ timing suggests it.”
“This [CBI raid] is an attempt to finish off the Opposition,” senior RJD leader Alok Mehta said. There is an attempt to silence the opposition’s voice.”
Mr. Prasad, 73, was recently granted bail in one of the fodder scam cases and released after more than 3.5 years in prison. Since then, the sick Mr. Prasad has been recuperating in New Delhi at the home of his elder daughter, Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti.