Land-for-jobs case: Tejashwi Yadav reaches ED office

Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and a former deputy chief minister of Bihar, arrived at the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) office on Monday in order to appear before the central agency regarding the Land-for-jobs case. When Tejashwi Yadav arrived at the ED office, a sizable contingent of RJD members and supporters cheered him on and held signs in his honor.

Earlier in the day, a PMLA court issued notices against Amit Katyal, Rabri Devi, Misha Bharti, Hema Yadav, and Hridyanand Chaudhary to be present on February 9, 2024, for further trial in the alleged ‘land for job scam’, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) stated in a release.

In the alleged scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a prosecution complaint (PC) on January 1, 2024, before the Special Court (PMLA), New Delhi, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, against Amit Katyal, Rabri Devi, Misha Bharti, Hema Yadav, Hridyanand Chaudhary, and two companies: A K Infosystems Private Limited, A B Exports Pvt. Ltd. Amit Katyal, a businessman, is said to have connections to the family of RJD patriarch and former chief minister of Bihar, Lalu Yadav.

The central agency initiated investigations based on an FIR registered by CBI related to land for job scam alleging that Lalu Yadav, the then Railway Minister, indulged in corruption for the appointment of Group D substitutes in Indian Railways during the period 2004-2009.

According to the FIR, the candidates were instructed to transfer land as payment for employment with Indian Railways. A charge sheet has also been filed by the CBI. The ED claimed that Lalu’s relatives, Rabr Devi, Misha Bharti, and Hema Yadav, who are named in the prosecution’s complaint, obtained land parcel(s) for nominal sums from the families of candidates who were chosen to replace Group D employees in the Indian Railways.

Hridyanand Chaudhary, another accused in the prosecution complaint, is a former employee in gaushala of Rabri Devi, who had acquired a property from one of the candidates and later transferred the same to Hema Yadav.
The companies–A K Infosystems Private Limited, A B Exports Pvt. Ltd–were shell companies that received proceeds of crime for family members of Lalu Prasad Yadav.