NEW DELHI: Trouble for
Lalu Prasad, already convicted thrice for corruption, refuses to cease. The
Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday filed a chargesheet against the RJD supremo, wife
Rabri Devi, son and heir apparent
Tejashwi Yadav as well his trusted aide and former Union minister Prem Chand Gupta for alleged money laundering in the railway hotels allotment case.
The ED has also accused Gupta's wife, Sarla, of corruption in the case.
In the chargesheet, its first against the Bihar former chief minister, the ED accused Lalu of misusing his official position as railway minister during UPA-1's tenure to grant sub-lease of two railway hotels in Puri and Ranchi to private parties in lieu of land parcels transferred to firms associated with Gupta.
Gupta, who served as corporate affairs minister in UPA-1, later transferred shares of these companies to Rabri and Tejashwi, who served as deputy chief minister in RJD's short-lived coalition with JD(U).
Referred to in political circles as the
IRCTC scam, it is the same charge which led to the end of Lalu's coalition with Nitish Kumar, sending the Bihar CM back into NDA. Nitish had insisted that Tejashwi come clean on the alleged corruption.
“The funds used to acquire the land (in Patna) had dubious origin and had been laundered through firms associated with P C Gupta,” a senior ED official said. As per the chargesheet, the funds used for the acquisition of shares of the firms in question by Rabri were also questionable
According to the chargesheet, Lalu and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) officials allegedly misused their position to grant sub-lease of two railway hotels to Sujata Hotel Pvt Ltd.
“In lieu of the hotels' sub-lease, 358 decimal of prime plot of land in Patna was transferred to Delight Marketing Company Pvt Ltd (owned by Sarla Gupta) in February 2005 at a rate which was much less than the then prevailing circle rate,” the ED official said.
The anti-money laundering agency claimed that the funds used to acquire the land was laundered through 151 companies linked to P C Gupta by using non-banking finance company Abhishek Finance Company Ltd. Later, the shares of Delight Marketing were acquired by Rabri and Tejashwi at less than market value, it said.
The ED had last year attached 11 plots worth around Rs 45 crore belonging to firms associated with Lalu's family members. The adjudicating authority of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) confirmed the provisional attachment in May.
The dozen-odd plots, including a 3-acre parcel in Danapur near Patna, was attached by the ED in December last year.
Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi. (TNN file photo)
