Railway hotel tender case: ED attaches three-acre plot owned by Lalu Prasad Yadav in Patna
The RJD chief’s son Tejashwi Yadav said that the charges were part of a conspiracy hatched by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said that it has attached a piece of land belonging to Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav in Bihar’s Capital Patna as part of its investigation into alleged rigging of a tender awarded to a company for running and maintaining two Railways-owned hotels, PTI reported.
Yadav’s son Tejashwi Yadav, who has also been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the past regarding his role in the matter, said the charges were part of a conspiracy hatched by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “We will answer all the allegations with evidence the day the chargesheet will be filed,” he said.
When Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Railway Minister in 2006, he reportedly ensured that the tender for the development, maintenance and operation of two hotels in Ranchi and Puri owned by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation be awarded to a ‘benami’ company owned by Sarla Gupta, the wife of RJD MP Prem Chand Gupta. In return, Lalu Prasad Yadav is accused of having received the three-acre plot, which is reportedly worth Rs 45 crore.
The former Bihar chief minister in October had said that the case against him was forged and concocted by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre and Nitish Kumar.