Land-for-jobs: Lalu Prasad in legal trouble

A Delhi court on Friday ordered the framing of charges against RJD chief and former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his family members and others in the alleged land-for-jobs ‘scam’, observing that public employment was allegedly misused as leverage to acquire land parcels for the Yadav family, PTI reported.Special Judge Vishal Gogne said the prosecution had made out a prima facie case that Yadav treated the railway ministry as a “personal fiefdom” and ran a criminal enterprise in which railway jobs were allegedly exchanged for land, in collusion with railway officials and close aides. The court ordered charges to be framed against 41 accused, while discharging 52 others, including several railway officials.The court also took note of a verification report filed earlier by the CBI, which said that out of the 103 accused named in the charge sheet, five had died. The matter has been posted for formal framing of charges later this month.The CBI has filed charge sheets against Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, their son Tejashwi Yadav and others in connection with the case. The agency has alleged that appointments to Group-D posts in the West Central Railway zone, headquartered in Jabalpur, were made during Yadav’s tenure as railway minister between 2004 and 2009 in return for land parcels being gifted or transferred by the recruits in the names of Yadav’s family members or associates.According to the CBI, these appointments were made in violation of prescribed norms and involved benami transactions, amounting to criminal conspiracy and misconduct. The accused have denied the allegations, maintaining that the case is politically motivated.Advocate Azaz Ahmed was quoted by news agency ANI as saying, “The CBI court has framed charges against Lalu Prasad Yadav, Misa Bharti, Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav and Hema Yadav under sections 420, 120B and 13 IPC...Formal charges will be framed on January 29.”