Land for jobs 'scam': Delhi HC asks ED to reply to interim bail plea of Lalu's aide Amit Katyal
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the Enforcement Directorate's response on a plea by Amit Katyal, a close associate of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, seeking interim bail on medical grounds in a money laundering case linked to the alleged land-for-jobs scam in the Indian Railways.
A vacation bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan issued notice to the ED and asked it to file a status report in the matter.
The court also asked the jail superintendent concerned to file a report along with the diet chart of Katyal, and listed the matter for further hearing on June 7.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Katyal, submitted that the accused has undergone bariatric surgery and lost 10 kg weight.
He needs to undergo further treatment which is not available in Tihar jail where he is lodged, Sibal said.
The judge asked as to why Katyal has approached the high court for the relief during vacations when his surgery was conducted earlier.
His lawyer submitted that he has moved the high court now since his bail plea was dismissed by the trial court only recently.
Katyal was arrested by the ED on November 11, 2023 under various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The probe agency has alleged that Katyal had acquired land from several job aspirants on behalf of the RJD chief when he was the railway minister in the UPA 1 government.
The ED has claimed that Katyal was the director of a company named AK Infosystems Private Limited to which several aspirants for Group D jobs in the railways sold their land at hugely discounted rates.
These land parcels were then transferred to some of the members of Prasad's family who are also accused in the case.