CBI arrests Lalu Prasad Yadav’s aide in alleged land-for-jobs scam
The accused man, Bhola Yadav, was the officer on special duty to the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief during his tenure as the railway minister.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday arrested an aide of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in an alleged corruption case, PTI reported.
The case pertains to allegations that the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief took land from job aspirants in return for employment with the Railways. The land-grabbing had allegedly taken place when he was the railway minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
The man arrested on Wednesday was Bhola Yadav, who was the officer on special duty to the RJD chief during his tenure as the railway minister. The Central Bureau of Investigation has accused Bhola Yadav of playing an important role in facilitating the transfer of land to the former railway minister’s family.
The Central Bureau of Investigation also searched four locations – two each in Darbhanga and Patna – linked to Bhola Yadav and his aides, The Indian Express reported.
Meanwhile, the agency has also arrested a railways employee named Hridayanand Choudhary in connection with the case.
On May 20, RJD leader Alok Mehta had said that the new case against Lalu Prasad Yadav was an attempt to muzzle a strong voice and that the Central Bureau of Investigation’s actions were “completely biased”.
The RJD had also put out a tweet on its official handle that read: “They are parrots. What [can be said] about parrots?” The party appeared to have been referring to the remarks of the Supreme Court from May 2013 describing the Central Bureau of Investigation as a “caged parrot”.
Lalu Prasad Yadav has already been convicted in five cases in the alleged fodder scam. The case pertains to the embezzlement of around Rs 1,000 crore from the state exchequer to buy medicine and fodder for cattle that did not exist. Yadav is currently out on bail.
A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Ranchi had on February 21 sentenced Yadav to jail for five years in the Rs 139.35-crore Doranda treasury case in the fodder scam. The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 60 lakh on him.
The other related cases in which Yadav has been convicted pertain to the alleged fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore and Rs 33.13 crore from the Chaibasa treasury, Rs 89.27 crore from the Deoghar treasury and Rs 3.76 crore from the Dumka treasury.