NEW DELHI: Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Wednesday granted bail to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, and their son, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and daughter RJD MP Misa Bharti in the alleged land-for-jobs scam case which is being probed by the CBI.
Special Judge Geetanjali Goel granted bail to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders along with other accused persons on furnishing personal bond in the sum of Rs.50,000 each with surety of like amount.
The court took note of the submission of the counsel for the accused persons that they were not arrested during the investigation and a charge sheet has been filed without arrest.
The judge, in the order, referred to the Supreme Court order which categorically held that in the case where the accused is either not arrested consciously by the prosecution or arrested and enlarged on bail, there is no need for further arrest at the instance of the Court, i.e. where the investigating agency has not exercised the power of arrest, there is no need for further arrest at the instance of the Court.
Yadav's family along with over a dozen accused persons were present during the hearing in the court in the national capital.
Other accused persons in the case--Dil Chand Kumar, Gyan Chand Rai, Hazari Rai, Maheep Kapur, Manoj Pande, Mahesh Singh, Mohd. Dhanif Ansari, Satrudhan Kumar, Ashok Kumar Yadav, Ram Briksh Yadav and Rajnath Singh were also admitted to bail in the case.
Earlier they were summoned by the court along with fourteen other accused persons connected to the case after taking cognizance of a fresh chargesheet filed on July 3.
On September 21, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had told the Court that the sanctions required to prosecute three accused persons--former Railway officials-- in the land-for-jobs case allegedly connected to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has been obtained from the authorities concerned.
The case relates to alleged appointments made in the railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold to Lalu Prasad Yadav's family when he was the railway minister between 2004 and 2009.
Lalu family are among the accused persons in the case which is alleging the handover of the maintenance of two hotels run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, a subsidiary of the Indian Railways, in Ranchi and Puri to Sujata Hotel, a company owned by Vinay and Vijay Kochhar, in return of a prime plot of three acres in Patna through a benami company.
The CBI, in its chargesheet, alleged that irregular appointments were made in the railways, violating norms and procedures of the Indian Railways for recruitment.
Lalu Yadav is out on bail in this case as well as in fodder scam cases. It was the second charge sheet filed by the CBI in the case but the first in which Tejashwi Yadav has been named as an accused. Besides the three members of the family, the federal agency has also named 14 individuals and entities in the charge sheet.