Lalu’s key aide Bhola Yadav arrested by CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also conducted searches on Wednesday at four premises — two each in Darbhanga and Patna — belonging to Yadav, who was the officer on special duty (OSD) to the then railway minister Prasad between 2005 and 2009, officials said.

The CBI has arrested former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad’s close aide, former MLA Bhola Yadav, in connection with the alleged “land-for-jobs” scam in the railways when Prasad was the railway minister in the UPA-1 government, officials said on Wednesday.

Former RJD MLA Bhola Yadav (HT Photo)

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also conducted searches on Wednesday at four premises — two each in Darbhanga and Patna — belonging to Yadav, who was the officer on special duty (OSD) to the then railway minister Prasad between 2005 and 2009, they said.

The agency has also arrested a railway employee, Hridayanand Chaudhary, who is an alleged beneficiary of the scam, the officials said.

Yadav was questioned by the CBI in connection with the scam, in which land measuring over one lakh square feet belonging to job aspirants’ families in Patna was allegedly purchased or transferred to Prasad’s family members in lieu of group-D jobs in the railways as “substitutes”.

The CBI suspects that Yadav had played a crucial role in facilitating the jobs and later, the transfer of land to Prasad’s family.

“During investigation, it was found that the then OSD to former railway minister...was involved in the alleged conspiracy in appointment of substitutes. It was further alleged that the accused was managing affairs in transfer of land by the family members of substitutes to the family members of former railway minister,” a spokesperson of the agency said in a statement.

The CBI said Yadav had also purchased some properties during the period.

Yadav had joined electoral politics and won the Bahadurpur seat in Darbhanga in the 2015 Bihar Assembly polls on a ticket of Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He decided to change the seat in 2020 to Hayaghat in the same district, but lost. Currently, he is a national general secretary in the RJD.

Yadav and Chaudhary, arrested in Delhi, were produced before a court there on Wednesday afternoon and remanded to CBI custody till August 2.

Choudhary, who was appointed as “substitute” with East Central Railway working at Rajendra Nagar Terminal, is a native of Itwa village in Gopalganj district. He had allegedly gifted his land in the name of Lalu Prasad’s daughter Hema Yadav.

According to a railway board circular of 2010, “substitutes” are persons engaged in Indian Railway establishment on regular scales of pay and allowances applicable to posts against which they are employed when these posts fall vacant on account of a railway servant being on leave or due to non-availability of permanent or temporary railway staff. “Substitutes” are appointed against the posts which cannot be kept vacant.

The CBI had registered a case on May 18, 2022, against the former railway minister and 15 others, including his wife and former Bihar CM Rabri Devi, two daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, in addition to people who were given jobs in the railway, besides unidentified public servants and private persons.

It was alleged that no advertisement or any public notice was issued for appointments of “substitutes” in different railways zones in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur.

According to CBI, about 1,05,292 square feet of land/immovable properties in Patna were acquired by family members of Prasad in lieu of giving these jobs. In most cases, payments were made in cash for the land transfer.

“The current value of these seven parcels of land, including the land acquired through gift deeds, is about ₹4.39 crore as per the existing circle rate. Enquiry has revealed that some parcels of land were directly purchased by Prasad’s family members from the sellers at rates lower than the prevailing circle rates,” the FIR filed by CBI has alleged.

Who is Bhola Yadav?

Bhola Yadav is said to be the closest aide of Lalu-Rabri. He was made an MLC on September 4, 2014. He won the Bahadurpur seat in Darbhanga in the 2015 Bihar assembly polls on an RJD ticket. He lost the subsequent assembly elections from Hayaghat in 2020.

The Maithili-speaking Yadav is a post-graduate from Magadh University and was a teacher in a college in Fatuha (Patna), when he first met Prasad in 1992. He was made private secretary to Rabri Devi, who replaced Prasad as chief minister between 2000 and 2005. He was the officer on special duty (OSD) to the then railway minister Prasad between 2005 and 2009.

Following Lalu Prasad’s arrest in Ranchi in December 2017 in the multi-crore fodder scam, Bhola Yadav stayed with the RJD chief like a shadow, taking care of the incarcerated leader at the Birsa Munda Jail in Jharkhand’s Ranchi and later at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS).

Who are substitutes

According to a railway board circular of 2010, “Substitutes” are persons engaged in Indian Railway Establishments on regular scales of pay and allowances applicable to posts against which they are employed. These posts fall vacant on account of a railway servant being on leave or due to non-availability of permanent or temporary railway servants and which cannot be kept vacant.