Tejashwi Yadav cites pregnant wife's health to skip CBI summons

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav is unlikely to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the land-for-jobs-scam case on Saturday as he cited his pregnant wife's health condition to skip the summons. Yadav was reportedly summoned by the CBI for the second time, after March 4, for questioning in the case based on alleged evidence and a paper trail against him.

• Yadav is one of the accused persons currently being probed by CBI in the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) land-for-jobs fraud case.
• On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided numerous locations in connection with the scam, which took place during 2004-09.
• Earlier this week, the CBI quizzed former Union railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife, ex-Bihar CM Rabri Devi, too.

According to India Today, Yadav stated that he would be unable to appear before the CBI on Saturday. He attributed this to his pregnant wife's bad health. Reportedly, she was taken to a private hospital in Delhi following the ED raid and questioning on Friday. Her blood pressure reportedly increased after 11-12 hours of the ED interrogation the day before, causing her to faint.

The ED raided Yadav's Delhi residence on Friday in connection with the IRCTC scam case. Simultaneous raids were conducted at 24 locations across many places in Delhi, Mumbai, Ranchi, and Patna, including the house of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu's daughter Misa Bharti. The probe agency interrogated Bihar Deputy CM Yadav and his family for about 11-12 hours.

Meanwhile, Yadav said that the CBI action was being taken against his family because they continuously opposed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its policies. "It is an open secret that probe agencies are acting against political opponents of the BJP and helping those who agree to align with that party," he earlier told the media outside the Bihar Assembly.

The CBI filed a chargesheet in this case in October last year and named 14 people, including Lalu, his wife Devi, their daughters, and senior railway officials. The agency alleged that the Lalu family had taken land from certain candidates in exchange for jobs at throwaway prices, and the candidates submitted fake documents to the Ministry of Railways for employment.

It is alleged that Lalu, during his tenure as the Union railways minister between 2004 and 2009, took land from candidates in lieu of Group D jobs in the railways. These jobs were given in different zones of railways located in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hajipur. In return, he took land from the candidates in the name of himself and his family members.