New Delhi: The Rouse Avenue court on Friday reserved an order on cognisance of a conclusive charge sheet against 78 accused, including former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, public servants and others accused in land for job scam.
The court is to pronounce the order on cognisance on February 25.
The total number of accused is 78, of which 30 are public servants, including former Railway Minister Lalu Yadav.
The CBI said that the prosecution sanction had been obtained for all the accused. The court has to take cognisance. Senior advocate D P Singh appeared for the CBI and said that a list of 30 common witnesses is prepared.
The offence is the same in all the charge sheets. The case has to be tried as one in all charge sheets filed by the CBI
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has already filed a Prosecution sanction against former public servants, including R K Mahajan, in the land-for-job case. Mahajan was a senior officer on the Railway Board during Lalu Prasad Yadav's tenure as Railway Minister. The land-for-job case is pending before the Rouse Avenue court.
Last year, on September 20, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a sanction to Prosecute former Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. On June 7, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a conclusive charge sheet against Lalu Prasad Yadav and 77 other accused in a land-for-job case.
The charge-sheeted accused also included 38 candidates.
On May 29, the court directed CBI to file its conclusive Charge sheet in the land for the job case. The court also expressed its displeasure over the non-filing of the conclusive charge sheet despite giving time.
On October 4, 2023, the court granted bail to former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Rabri Devi, and others in relation to an earlier Chargesheet in an alleged Land for Job Scam case.
According to the CBI, the second chargesheet is against 17 accused, including the then Union Minister of Railways, his wife, son, then GM of West Central Railways(WCR), two CPOs of WCR, private persons, a private company in a case related to Land for Job Scam
The CBI filed a chargesheet in Land for Job, an alleged scam case against former Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, and others. CBI registered a case on May 18, 2022, against them.
It is alleged that the then Union Minister of Railways, during the period 2004 to 2009, obtained pecuniary advantages by transferring landed property in the name of his family members in lieu of appointment of Substitutes in Group "D" posts in different Zones of Railways.
It was further alleged that in lieu thereof, the substitutes, who were residents of Patna themselves or through their family members, sold and gifted their land situated at Patna in favour of the family members of said Minister and a private company controlled by his family members, which was also involved in the transfer of such immovable properties in the name of said family members.
It was also alleged that no advertisement or public notice was issued for such appointments of substitutes in Zonal Railways, yet the appointees who were residents of Patna were appointed as Substitutes in different Zonal Railways located in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hazipur.
Searches were conducted at multiple places, including Delhi and Bihar, CBI said. (ANI)