NEW DELHI/PATNA : The CBI is taking a fresh look at its probe against RJD chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in a railway projects allocation bribery case, investigations into which were stalled last year due lack of sufficient evidence.
Lalu is at present recuperating in a Singapore hospital following kidney transplant. The matter dates back to the time when Lalu held the railways portfolio in the UPA-I government. It is being reexamined in the wake of a chargesheet filed by the CBI in October last against Lalu, his wife Rabri and 14 others in an alleged land-for-jobs scam.
According to sources in the CBI, Lalu is alleged to have received a south Delhi property as bribe from real estate major DLF Group, which was interested in rail land lease projects in Mumbai’s Bandra and the revamp of the New Delhi railway station.
The property was allegedly bought by a DLF-funded shell company AB Exports for Rs 5 crore against the then market rate of `30 crore. AB Exports was then allegedly bought by Lalu’s son Tejashwi, now deputy chief minister of Bihar, and daughters Chanda and Ragini, for a mere Rs 4 lakh by a transfer of shares, giving them ownership of the south Delhi bungalow.
Reacting sharply, Bihar RJD chief Jagdanand Singh said that the BJP was trying to frame Lalu by reopening the case and accused the BJP of political victimisation. In his pushback, state BJP vice president Mithilesh Tiwari claimed the CBI was an independent agency and was not under the influence of anybody.