In the alleged land-for-job scam case, Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court today granted bail to Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Bihar CM Lalu Yadav, his wife and former Bihar CM Rabri Devi, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and others. The court set the subject for the next hearing on October 16 and granted bail to one of the state’s most renowned political families on a personal bond of 50,000 rupees.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been directed by the court to give copies of the chargesheet to the defendants.
Following a summons, Yadav, Rabri Devi, and the deputy chief minister of Bihar all personally appeared before Special Judge Geetanjali Goel.
On September 22, the Yadav family and 14 other alleged victims of the alleged scheme received summonses from the court.
All of the accused were requested to appear in person before Special Judge Goel after she took note of the new chargesheet submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on July 3.
On Tuesday, Lalu Yadav appeared unperturbed with the hearing as he said he had nothing to be scared about. “Hearings keep happening. Have we done anything that we need to be scared about?” the RJD chief had said.
The CBI has filed a second chargesheet against 17 defendants in the case, including Yadav, his wife, his younger son, the former general manager of West Central Railways (WCR), a private business, and a few private individuals.
On May 18, 2022, the agency filed a complaint against Yadav and his family, which includes two daughters.
The former railway minister is being charged by the CBI with accepting landed property in exchange for the appointment of substitutes to Group “D” posts within the Indian Railways.
The accused allegedly collected applications and documents of such candidates through associates and then sent those to West Central Railway for processing for jobs, the CBI has alleged. These candidates were later provided jobs in Railways under the influence of the accused, it added. These candidates were first appointed as substitutes and were later regularized, the agency said.
