After Lalu, son Tejashwi quizzed by ED for close to 9 hours in land-for-job case

Tejashwi Prasad Yadav reached the ED office in Patna at 11.25am with a large number of party supporters shouting slogans against ED and the BJP.

Former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for close to nine hours in connection with the land for job scam in railways at the agency’s Patna office on Tuesday, a day after his father and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was quizzed.

After coming out of the ED office, Tejashwi flashed a victory symbol and drove away. (Photo by Santosh Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

The questioning, which began at 11.30am, ended at 8.05 pm. After coming out of the ED office, Tejashwi flashed a victory symbol and drove away.

Tejashwi reached the ED office at 11.25am with a large number of party supporters shouting slogans against ED and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A large crowd of party leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha, Misa Bharti, Tej Pratap Yadav, legislators and others, were present outside the ED office.

Jha described the questioning as a sheer “political vendetta at the election time”.

“It is not ED. Call it BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah … they are doing it with all those who have the courage to stand up against them. If the scenario changes after election, they should know the same can also recoil,” he added.

Lalu Prasad’s eldest brother-in-law Prabhunath Singh Yadav said that it was just a way of harassing the family, as “everyone knows a minister cannot give jobs to anyone with his signature and everything has to be routed through procedures and various level of officials”.

However, deputy CM and BJP state president Samrat Choudhary said it was an old corruption case that was hounding Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi. “Laluji gulped down fodder when he was the CM and got land registered in lieu of jobs when he was railway minister. ED is investigating the corruption case,” he said.

According to the ED investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) conducted so far, several pieces of land at prominent locations in Patna and other areas were illegally acquired by the family of the then railway minister in lieu of jobs provided by railways. The current market value of these land pieces is more than ₹200 crore, said an ED official.

Further, investigation under PMLA revealed that the property situated at New Friends Colony, Delhi (an independent 4-story bungalow registered in the name of M/s A B Exports Private Limited, a company owned and controlled by Tejashwi Prasad and his family) was shown to have been acquired at a value of mere ₹4 lakhs, the present market value of which is approximately ₹150 crores.

ED investigation suspected that a huge amount of cash or proceeds from crime has been infused into purchasing this property, and a few Mumbai-based entities dealing in the gems and jewellery sector were used to channel the ill-gotten proceeds of crime in this regard. The property has been, on paper, declared as the offices of M/s A B Exports Private Limited and M/s AK Infosystems Pvt ltd, It is being exclusively used as residential premises by Tejashwi Prasad. During the searches, Tejashwi Prasad was found to be staying at this house and was found to be using this house as his residential property. The ED investigation further revealed that a major portion of the amount thus received was transferred to the account of Tejashwi Prasad.

Last week, ED also filed a Prosecution Complaint (PC) under PMLA against Amit Katyal, Rabri Devi, Misha Bharti, Hema Yadav, Hridyanand Chaudhary and two companies viz. M/s A K Infosystems Private limited, M/s A B Exports Pvt. Ltd. before the special PMLA court, New Delhi in the land-for-job case. The court has taken cognizance and issued notices to the accused persons to be present on February 9 for further trial.