NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday told Delhi's Rouse Avenue 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.
Before the Special Judge Geetanjali Goel, CBI apprised that sanctions against accused persons--Maheep Kapur, Manoj Pande and P L Bankar have been obtained from competent authorities.
The matter will be further heard on Friday to decide whether to take cognisance of the charge sheet.
Besides Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi's son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav 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.
Lalu, Rabri, Tejashwi, and Kochars, who are accused 5 and 6 in the case along with Sarla Gupta (A-7), Pradeep Kumar Goel (A-8), Rakesh Saksena (A-10) and Rakesh Kumar Gogia (A-12) are exempted from their personal appearance for Thursday.
The CBI, in its chargesheet, alleged that irregular appointments were made in the railways, violating norms and procedures of the Indian Railways for recruitment. On July 3, a charge sheet was filed against the 75-year-old Lalu, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, and their son and the state's Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav in connection with the alleged scam.
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.
