Land-for-job 'scam': Delhi court orders framing of charges against Lalu Yadav, others

A Delhi court on Friday ordered framing of charges against RJD chief and former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his family members and others in the alleged land-for-job scam.

Special Judge Vishal Gogne said Yadav used the railway ministry as his personal fiefdom in order to carry out a criminal enterprise, where public employment was used as a bargaining chip to acquire land parcels by the Yadav family in connivance with railway officials and his close aides.

Orally pronouncing the substantive portion of the order, the judge said that the CBI's final report revealed an "overarching conspiracy on the touchstone of grave suspicion."

He also rejected the plea for discharge by the accused, including Lalu Prasad and his family members, as "unwarranted," underlining that the former railway minister and others were "operating as a criminal enterprise to usurp land."

The judge also highlighted the "abuse of decision" by railway officials. "Description of charge sheet constitutes the essentiality and core in the criminality as described," he said.

The court framed charges in the case against 41 persons, and discharged 52, which included railway officials and substitutes who did not part away with their land. Earlier, the CBI had submitted a verification report regarding the status of the accused in the case, saying out of the 103 accused named in its charge sheet, five died. The court has posted the matter for formal framing of charges on January 23. A detailed order in the matter is awaited.

The CBI filed charge sheets against Lalu Yadav, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, their son Tejashwi Yadav and others in connection with the alleged scam. It alleged that appointments in the Group-D category of the West Central Zone of the Indian Railways based in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, were made during Lalu Yadav's tenure as the railway minister from 2004 to 2009 in return for land parcels gifted or transferred by the recruits in the names of the RJD supremo's family members or associates.

The CBI also claimed that the appointments were made in violation of norms and that the transactions involved benami properties, amounting to criminal misconduct and conspiracy. The accused have denied the charges, claiming the case is politically motivated.