The Enforcement Directorate has now summoned another son-in-law of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Rahul Yadav, in connection with its money laundering probe in railway hotels allotment corruption case, official sources today said. The fresh trouble for the Lalu Prasad family comes as the agency has allegedly detected some "suspected movement of funds" from Rahul Yadav to his mother-in-law and wife of Lalu Prasad-- Rabri Devi. Rahul Yadav is the husband of Prasad's fourth daughter Ragini. He has been summoned to depose before the investigating officer of the case tomorrow here, they said. The ED is already probing the role of Prasad's other son-in-law Shailesh Kumar, husband of his eldest daughter Misa Bharti, in a separate money laundering case linked to purchase of alleged tainted assets involving a firm-- MsMishail Packers and Printers Pvt Ltd. This firm is said to be linked to Misa, a Rajya Sabha MP of the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), and Shailesh Kumar. As part of the fresh summonses, the ED, they said, wants to seek explanation from Rahul Yadav about transfer of funds to the tune of about Rs 1 crore apart from answering few other queries related to a firm embroiled in this case-- Delight Marketing. The central probe agency has earlier questioned Rabri Devi and her son Tejashwi Yadav in this case. Tejashwi Yadav has been the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar in the government led by CM Nitish Kumar till recently.
Kumar later broke ties with the RJD and formed government with the BJP. The ED, in July last year, had registered a case against Lalu Prasad, his family members and others under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Before that, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a first information report and conducted multiple searches on the properties of Lalu Prasad and others. The CBI FIR alleged that Lalu Prasad, during his tenure as the railway minister in the UPA-I government, handed over the maintenance of two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels to a company in 2004 after receiving bribe in the form of a prime land in Patna through a benami company owned by Sarla Gupta, the wife of Prem Chand Gupta, a former Union minister. The ED registered the criminal case against his family members and others under the PMLA, based on this CBI FIR. It is investigating the alleged "proceeds of crime" generated by the accused, purportedly through shell companies in this deal. Others named in the CBI FIR include Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar (both directors of Sujata Hotels), Delight Marketing company, now known as Lara Projects, and the then IRCTC managing director P K Goel. The CBI FIR was registered on July 5 last year in connection with alleged favours extended to Sujata Hotels in awarding a contract for the upkeep of the hotels in Ranchi and Puri and receiving premium land as "quid pro quo".
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)