Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, July 31
RJD President Lalu Prasad, who is convicted in fodder scam, is in for further trouble as under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached six properties of his family members in connection with the land for jobs scam in railways.
The properties are located in Danapur, Bihta in Bihar, Shahibabad, Gaziabad in UP, New Friends Colony in New Delhi. According to the ED officials, six immovable properties including two industrial plots were attached by ED. The action follows ED questioning Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi and daughters Chanda, Ragini, and Hema who had allegedly benefited from the scam.
The property attached include D 1008, New Friends Colony in New Delhi, which is occupied by the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Tejashwi.
According to the ED officials, Mrs Rabri Devi, Ms Misa Bharti, husband and father-in-law of Hema Yadav, daughter of Lalu had illegal property acquired with the ill-gotten money. They said A B Exports private limited and AK infosystem private limited owned by the family of the then Railway Minister have been attached under the provisions of the PMLA, 2002.
Seven land plots were acquired by the family members of Lalu from the candidates irregularly appointed as a quid pro quo for group D jobs in the railways. ED investigations, according to the officials, resulted in recovery of unaccounted cash of Rs one crore, foreign currency including USD 500, gold jewelleries and several incriminating documents were found from the residential premises on March 10 this year.
Investigation was initiated by ED under PMLA, 2002 based on FIR registered by the CBI against, Rabri Devi other family members. The investigation by ED revealed that the family members of candidates gifted/sold land (at cheap rates/lesser than the circle rate) to family members of Lalu and associated companies in lieu of job which was given in a malafide manner with undue haste and in violation of extant law and procedure.
The criminal conspiracy to abuse his official position for the sake of seeking bribes led to accretion of the land parcels by his family members at Mahuabagh (Danapur) and Bihta, Patna, in such a manner so as to consolidate the land holdings already in their possession, said the ED officials.
Earlier in this case, searches were also conducted at 24 locations by ED at various places in Delhi NCR, Patna, Mumbai and Ranchi including residences of Mrs. Hema Yadav, Mrs. Ragini Lalu, Mrs. Chanda Yadav and residential and commercial premises of Amit Katyal, Navdeep Sardana, Abu Dojana and Suman Nayak, CA.
Investigation under PMLA revealed that Rabri Devi and Hema Yadav sold four land parcels illegally acquired from appointees in Railway to M/s Meridian Construction India Ltd., a company related to Syed Abu Dojana, Ex-MLA of RJD and the proceeds of crime so obtained by Rabri Devi and Hema Yadav were further transferred through a maze of transactions to M/s A B Exports Pvt Ltd and M/s Bhagirathi Tubes respectively. Rabri Devi and Hema Yadav sold these land parcels in Rs 3.5 Crore against the acquisition cost of Rs 7.5 lakhs, thus deriving huge gains.
ED’s investigation has revealed that M/s A B Exports Pvt Ltd is a shell company owned by Tejashwi Yadav and Chanda Yadav, daughter of Lalu and has its registered address at D-1088, New Friends Colony, Delhi. M/s Bhagirathi Tubes is a partnership firm under the control of the father-in-law and husband of Hema Yadav, with its principal place of business at Ghaziabad (UP).
A total of 6 immovable properties situated at New Delhi, Ghaziabad and Patna being proceeds of crime, have been provisionally attached under PMLA, 2002. The properties attached include the residential premise situated at D-1088, New Friends Colony, New Delhi owned by M/s A B Exports Pvt Ltd.
The property situated at D-1088, New Friends Colony, New Delhi is an independent 4 storied bungalow, registered in the name of M/s A B Exports Private Limited, which was shown to have been acquired in 2011 at a value of mere Rs 4 Lakhs despite being declared as the registered corporate office of various companies under the control of the members of the Yadav family, said ED.
