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₹600 cr crime proceeds found during raids on Lalu’s kin: ED
The federal agency on Friday raided 24 locations in the National Capital Region (NCR), Bihar, and Jharkhand linked to Prasad, his family members
New Delhi The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said proceeds of crime worth ₹600 crore were detected during its money laundering probe in connection with the alleged land-for-jobs scam, in which former Bihar chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad and his family members have been named as accused.
The development came a day after the federal agency raided 24 locations in the National Capital Region (NCR), Bihar, and Jharkhand linked to Prasad, his family members, including his younger son and Bihar’s deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, and associates in the case pertaining to alleged allotment of jobs in Railways in lieu of land from beneficiaries during 2004 to 2009, when the RJD chief was the railway minister in the UPA-1 government.
“Searches resulted in detection of proceeds of crime amounting to ₹600 crore approximately at this point of time which is in the form of immovable properties of ₹350 crore and transactions of ₹250 crore routed through various benamidaars (front persons for benami properties),” ED said in a statement on Saturday.
The federal anti-money laundering probe agency further said it has also recovered unaccounted cash totaling ₹1 crore, foreign currency including $1,900, 540 grams of gold bullion and 1.5 kg gold jewellery worth over ₹1.5 crore during the raids at 24 locations on Friday. Several incriminating documents such as property papers, sale deeds etc in the name of Yadavs and benami persons were also recovered during the raids, it added.
Besides Tejashwi Yadav, those covered in Friday raids included Lalu’s daughters —Hema, Chanda and Ragini Yadav — and former RJD legislator Abu Dojana, among others.
The money laundering probe so far in the case, ED said, has revealed that several land parcels at prominent locations in Patna and other places were illegally acquired by the family of former railway minister Lalu Prasad in lieu of jobs provided in railways. “The current market value of these land parcels is more than ₹200 crore,” ED said, adding that “several benamidars, shell entities and beneficial owners for these land(s) have been identified.”
The ED probe has revealed that a four-storey bungalow at D-1088 in South Delhi’s New Friends Colony, registered in the name of M/s AB Exports Private Limited, a company owned and controlled by Tejashwi and family, was shown to have been acquired at a value of mere ₹4 lakh. “The present market value of this bungalow is approximately ₹150 crore,” ED said.
It is suspected that huge amount of cash/proceeds of crime has been infused in purchasing this property and few Mumbai-based entities, dealing in the gems and jewellery sector were used to channel ill-gotten proceeds of crime in this regard, the agency alleged.
“The property has been though, on paper, declared as an office of AB Exports Private Limited and AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd, it is being exclusively used as residential premises by Tejaswi Prasad Yadav,” it said, adding that the Bihar’s deputy chief minister was present at the bungalow during searches on Friday.
In a parallel corruption probe in the case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has questioned Lalu and his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi earlier this week. Both federal agencies have accelerated their probe in the alleged scam.
ED further said it has found that four land parcels, acquired by Yadavs in just ₹7.5 lakh from poor Group D applicants in Railways were sold to former MLA Abu Dojana by Rabri Devi with huge gains at ₹3.5 crore “in a collusive deal”.
“A major portion of this amount (received from sale) was transferred to the account of Tejashwi Yadav,” ED said. “In similar fashion, lands were taken from several poor parents and candidates in lieu of Group D jobs in the railways. It has been revealed during the investigation that in many railways zones, more than 50% of recruited candidates were from Lalu Yadav families’ constituencies.”
The agency said probe is underway to unearth more investments made on behalf of Lalu’s family and their associates in various sectors, including real estate at various places.
Meanwhile, RJD’s alliance partner in Bihar, the Janata Dal (United) alleged the recent crackdown on Lalu Prasad and his family was the result of political shift in Bihar in August last year.
“In the case of land-for-jobs case, CBI could not gather evidence after investigating twice,” alleged JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh. “But after August 9, 2022, suddenly they started getting evidence from divine power and heavy raids took place at Lalu Prasad ji and his family members.”
In August 2022, chief minister Nitish Kumar broke off ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a government in Bihar with the RJD.
Singh also alleged that “pregnant woman and children were harassed by ED” during raids on Friday.
Rejecting the allegations, ED said, while conducting searches, “all legal formalities were fully observed and due courtesy was extended to the women, children and the senior citizens present at the search premises.”
