ED calls Lalu, son for questioning in job-for-land scam

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has summoned RJD chief and former railways minister Lalu Prasad and his son and Bihar’s deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav for questioning at its headquarters here on December 22 and 27, respectively, in the Railways job-for-land scam.CBI has already questioned Lalu Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi, besides his children, including Tejashwi Yadav, in the scam. The ED’s case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is based on the CBI FIR.The ED had in July attached six properties belonging to Lalu’s family members situated in Delhi, Ghaziabad and Patna, alleged to be “proceeds of crime” from the jobs scam. These include a residential building at D-1088, New Friends Colony, New Delhi. Two other land parcels are situated at Mahuabagh (Danapur), Patna of which one each is owned by Rabri Devi and AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd, a shell company controlled by the family. Another land owned by Lalu’s daughter Misa Bharti has been attached at Bihta, Patna. Two industrial plots, one each registered in the names of Vineet Yadav and Shiv Kumar Yadav, husband and father-in-law of Lalu’s daughter Hema Yadav, situated at Sahibabad, Ghaziabad have been attached.As reported earlier by TOI, during 2004-09 when Lalu was the railways minister in the UPA government, various persons from his parliamentary constituency were allegedly appointed to Group D positions in different zones of the Indian Railways. According to ED’s case, “in lieu of these appointments, the concerned persons transferred their land to the name of family members of Lalu Prasad in AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd,” a shell firm controlled by his close associate Amit Katyal. On November 11, this year the ED arrested Katyal.Earlier in March this year, ED had conducted searches at multiple premises linked to Lalu Prasad and his family members and had seized about Rs 1 crore cash and valuables equivalent to about Rs 1.2 crore.