Delhi Court summons Lalu Prasad, wife and son in IRCTC scam case

In relation to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) scam a Delhi Court on July 30 has summoned Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejaswi Yadav and other accused.

On August 31, 2018 they shall appear before the court in a case related to alleged irregularities in granting operational contract of two IRCTC hotels to a private firm as directed by Special Judge Arvind Kumar.

In a charge sheet filed by the CBI in the case it was stated that there were enough evidence against the accused.

The others named in the charge sheet beside the RJD chief and his family members are former union minister Prem Chand Gupta and his wife Sarla Gupta, B K Agarwal, then managing director of IRCTC, and then IRCTC director Rakesh Saxena, then Group general managers of IRCTC V K Asthana and R K Goyal, Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar, both directors of Sujata Hotels and owners of Chanakya Hotel.

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Background of the case:

A case was registered by the CBI in July 2017 and searches were carried out at 12 locations including Patna, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar and Gurugram in connection with the case. The charges with regards to the case include criminal conspiracy (120-B), cheating (420) under IPC and corruption, the central probe agency had said.

Through the inquiry the CBI alleged that Lalu Prasad Yadav had used his influence as the railway minister in 2005 to give a tender to a private firm called Sujata Hotels to develop and operate two railway hotels in Ranchi and Puri.

In return for awarding the tender he allegedly received a three-acre plot, worth Rs 45 crore, through a non-descript company which was owned by the wife of a Rashtriya Janata Dal MP. Papers for the land were forged in such a the land was described an agricultural land which caused losses to the state exchequer as agricultural lands are exempted from certain taxes.

“As a result, Sujata Hotels remained the only bidder in financial evaluation and was qualified,” the CBI has alleged, adding after the tender was awarded to Sujata Hotels, the ownership of Delight marketing also changed hands from Sarla Gupta to Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav between 2010 and 2014, NDTV reported.

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