As Nitish Kumar allies with BJP, ED registers money laundering case against Lalu Prasad and family

Hours after Nitish Kumar took oath as the chief minister of Bihar in alliance with the BJP, Enforcement Directorate on Thursday registered a money laundering case against Lalu Prasad and his family members in a railway hotel allotment corruption case of UPA tenure.
Hours after Nitish Kumar took oath as the chief minister of Bihar in alliance with the BJP, Enforcement Directorate on Thursday registered a money laundering case against Lalu Prasad and his family members in a railway hotel allotment corruption case of UPA tenure. This was confirmed by an official. Lalu Yadav was the railway minister during the first stint of UPA government.
The development comes weeks after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered an FIR earlier on July 7 against Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, their son Tejashwi Yadav and five others, which include a former IRCTC managing director, in a case of alleged corruption linked to a grant of tenders for the maintenance of BNR hotels to Sujata Hotels.
The official said the ED will investigate the case against Lalu Prasad and others since the accused had allegedly generated money through shell companies. The CBI had carried out searches at multiple locations against the Rashtriya Janata Dalchief, his family members, and others.
“We received an official order regarding the case two days ago. Now, we have filed a PMLA case against Lalu Prasad, his family members, and others on charges of irregularities in the allotment of railway hotels (for upkeep),” an ED official told IANS on the condition of anonymity.
According to records examined by the Indian Express earlier this month, the Indian Railways had more than a year back red flagged Patna-based company Sujata Hotels for charging higher tariffs in hotels leased to it by a rail Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) before the CBI’s FIR against Lalu Prasad and family for the alleged irregularity. As per the records made available, the two hotels in question – BNR Puri and BNR Ranchi – were leased out in 2006-07 to Sujata Hotels by the IRCTC as ‘budget hotels’ on the premise that they were located close to railway stations and would cater mainly to train passengers.
In the FIR, the investigative agency alleged that Lalu Prasad Yadav and family received a plot of land in Patna in return for awarding tenders to the company run by two businessmen Vijay Kochhar and Vinay Kochhar. Lalu Prasad and son Tejashwi Yadav have however denied the charges.
Besides, the hotel allotment corruption case, the ED had also filed a chargesheet against Lalu’s daughter Misa Bharti’s accountant Rajesh Agarwal in a money laundering case.
Kumar had on Wednesday broke the Grand Alliance with RJD on Wednesday citing corruption cases against its leaders including Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwai Yadav and stepped down as the chief minister. However, with the support of the old ally BJP, Kumar again was sworn in as the chief minister.

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