PATNA: Income Tax (IT) officials on Wednesday conducted raids at various locations of RJD chief Lalu Prasad's close aide and former MLA Bhola Yadav in Patna and Darbhanga districts.
On the other hand, CBI arrested Bhola, the then OSD (Officer on Special Duty) of Lalu, when the latter was railway minister from 2004 to 2009 in the former UPA government, in connection with the land-for-jobs scam. It is the first arrest in the case sources added.
Known as ‘Hanuman of Lalu’, Bhola was elected to Bihar assembly in 2015. Though he contested the 2020 assembly election from Hayaghat on RJD ticket, he lost to Ram Chandra Prasad Sah of BJP. He is also considered close to Lalu's youngest son and leader of opposition Tejashwi Yadav.
Bhola always took full care of Lalu and moved with him like a shadow, whether during the time of his ailments or while he was produced in a court. Bhola is privy to Lalu's various modus operandi that was used in the rail job scam when Lalu served as the railway minister, sources claimed.
RJD chief faces allegations of taking land from aspirants for giving jobs in the Railways. In May this year, the agency had raided 16 locations during which it recovered a few incriminating documents from the premises of Lalu Prasad and his family members.
As per the affidavit filed by Bhola in the Election Commission, Bhola's total properties are valued at Rs 3.4 crore comprising movable properties worth Rs 98.97 lakh and immovable properties worth Rs 2.4 crore.