IRCTC hotel-for-land scam case: The Court fixed November 19 as the next date of hearing saying accused Lalu Yadav will have to appear via video conferencing. (File photo)
Delhi’s Patiala House Court Saturday granted interim bail to former Bihar chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Rabri Devi, her son and former deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and the other accused in the IRCTC land scam case. The court directed all the accused to furnish a personal bond and surety amount of Rs 1 lakh each.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav did not appear before the court as doctors have declared him physically unfit to travel. The court fixed November 19 as the next date of hearing and asked Lalu to appear via video conferencing.
Lalu Yadav’s family and the IRCTC officials have been accused of allegedly misusing their position for granting sub-lease of the rights of two Railway hotels at Puri and Ranchi to Ms Sujata Hotel Pvt. Ltd owned by Vijay and Vinay Kochhar. In return, 358 decimal of land was transferred to Ms Delight Marketing Company Pvt Ltd (a company owned by the family of P C Gupta who is a close associate of Prasad and an MP from RJD) in February 2005 at a rate lesser than the then market value.
“The said company possessing valuable chunk of land gradually got transferred to Rabri Devi and her son Tejashwi by way of share purchase at nominal prices. The funds used to acquire the land had a dubious origin and had been laundered through 151 group companies belonging to P C Gupta by using an NBFC named Ms Abhishek Finance Company Limited,” the agency charged.
On September 17, taking cognisance of the complaint by the Enforcement Directorate in the case, a Delhi court had issued summons to Lalu, Rabri, Tejashwi and others. Besides Lalu and his family, former Union minister Prem Chand Gupta and his wife Sarla Gupta and Lara Projects have been named in the chargesheet filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).