‘Quash CBI summons’: Tejashwi Yadav asks Delhi HC in land-for-jobs case
Tejashwi Yadav’s plea is expected to be taken up by the Delhi high court’s bench of justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma on Thursday.
NEW DELHI: Bihar deputy chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday moved the Delhi high court challenging the summons issued to him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the alleged land for jobs scam against his father and others.
Yadav’s plea is expected to be taken up by a bench of justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma on Thursday.
In his plea, Yadav said the allegations are primarily against his father Lalu Prasad Yadav and other officers, and that he was a minor when the alleged offences are said to have been committed. Tejashwi turned 18 in November 2007.
CBI filed a charge sheet against former railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi in connection with the case pertaining to alleged appointments made in railways in return of land parcels gifted or sold to the their family when Lalu was the minister between 2004 and 2009.
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Last week, Lalu and his wife were questioned by the CBI in connection with the case.
On Wednesday, both were given bail by a Delhi court which noted that the agency filed its charge sheet last year without arresting them.
Tejashwi Yadav’s petition in the high court comes after he thrice skipped the summons to appear for questioning on February 28, March 4 and March 11.
In his plea, Yadav questioned CBI’s decision to summon him to its office in Delhi and not question him in Bihar.
“It is respectfully submitted that notice under section 160 of the CrPC can only be issued to a person ,who is situated within local jurisdiction of that police station or is within the adjoining police station. Therefore, the impugned notices have been issued in gross violation of the provisions of the CrPC,” the plea said.
Besides seeking quashing of the summons, Yadav has also sought a direction to allow his lawyer to stay in visible distance from him, if not audible distance.
Yadav said that when he was given the notice to join the investigation on March 11 within three days, he had requested the agency through multiple letters to grant him two weeks to appear in wake of the ongoing Bihar assembly or to appear in the Bihar office of the CBI.
“The said requests were made by the petitioner three times since he has been newly appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and he has the obligation to attend the Bihar Legislative Assembly budget session along,with lots of urgent government work for which, he requires to complete the same within short period of time. The petitioner has been given most urgent work for multiple state ministries, which require to complete on urgent basis, “ the plea said.