Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi today alleged that the Sahara group helped Lalu Prasad and his family in buying a posh property from the Tata group through a shell company here, a charge denied by the RJD.
When contacted, the Sahara group said it had nothing to do with the transaction, while the Tata group declined to comment.
Modi's allegation comes days after he claimed that Lalu Prasad's family, including his son Tejashwi, acquired a two-storeyed building of Tata Iron and Steel Company located in a posh locality of Patna worth crores through a shell company named 'Fairgrow Holding Pvt Ltd'.
The deputy chief minister said the Income Tax Department had in February attached a 7,105 sq feet two-storeyed house at 5, Riding Road, in Patna, located close to the airport and registered in the name of 'Fairgrow Holding Pvt Ltd'.
Talking to reporters here at the BJP office, Modi, who distributed IT department's inquiry proceedings regarding provisional attachment order of the said property, said, "Rajesh Kumar, who had made payment of Rs 65 lakh for buying the Tata group property in Patna on behalf of Fairgrow holding, was neither a director, nor a share-holder, nor any employee of Fairgrow..."
"Rajesh Kumar, P.S. to J B Roy, the brother of Subrata Roy, and was also the Deputy MD of Sahara group, made the payment of Rs 65 lakh on behalf of Fairgrow company which was owned and run by RJD leader and former Union minister Prem Chandra Gupta and his brothers," Modi alleged.
Rejecting the allegations, Sahara group said that with the said firm, "Sahara India Parivar or its member, neither has any business nor any relation of even an amount of one rupee ever".
"We would like to say that Sri Rajesh Kumar is Senior Officer of Sahara India Parivar. Regarding complaints of participation in Fairgrow Pvt Ltd against Sri Rajesh Kumar, a high level Internal Inquiry Committee has been constituted. This committee would submit the report within 15 days," the group said in a statement.
Modi also alleged that RJD leader Prem Chandra Gupta and people from Sahara group used to run Fairgrow company through dummy shareholders and directors in order to buy benami properties for Lalu Prasad's family.
Reacting to Modi's charges, RJD spokesman and MLA Shakti Singh Yadav said, "Sushil Modi is hell-bent on terming Tejashwi Prasad Yadav's registered properties as benami ones...These allegations are not only baseless but far from reality."
Claiming that Modi was spreading rumours about Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD spokesman said, "Since the BJP leader has got tired of making false and frivolous allegations against Lalu Prasad, and hence he is now going after his (Prasad's) second generation just to hog the limelight.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)