Defiant Rabri says she won’t appear before ED

PATNA: Former Bihar CM Rabri Devi has decided to defy the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and ignore its summons to appear for interrogation in a graft case against her family.

Rabri said she appeared before the Income Tax (I-T) department once in this connection. "One should not be summoned repeatedly in connection with the same case," she told reporters on Thursday, adding she would not appear before the ED.

Rabri has been summoned by the ED on November 7 to appear before the IO (investigating officer) of a case lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with an alleged tender scam in the railways in 2005-06 when her husband and RJD chief, Lalu Prasad Yadav, was the minister for railways. She had earlier been asked to appear before the ED on October 27. She gave it a miss citing ill health and her preoccupation with Chhath festival.

The ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) lodged by the ED on July 27 is broadly based on the FIR lodged by CBI on July 5 against Lalu, Rabri, their son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and others.