CBI court summons Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav in land-for-jobs case

New Delhi: A special court on Friday issued orders summoning Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, his father and former railway minister Lalu Prasad, and mother and former state CM Rabri Devi, taking cognisance of supplementary charge sheets filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the land-for-jobs case.

All the accused have been asked to appear in the special CBI court on October 4. The CBI had filed a supplementary charge sheet on July 3, naming Tejashwi Yadav for the first time in the case. The charge sheet alleges that he was also a "beneficiary" of the land-for-jobs scam.

The CBI had filed its first supplementary charge sheet in February against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi and 14 others under the Prevention of Corruption Act and also accusing them of criminal conspiracy. The agency has so far arrested three people in the case: Bhola Yadav, who was an officer on special duty to Lalu Prasad when he was the railway minister; Hridayanand Chaudhary, a railway employee and an alleged beneficiary; and Dharmendra Rai, another alleged beneficiary.


ET was the first to report on October 8 that the CBI had summoned Sanjay Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav's private secretary, for questioning in connection with the case.

Special CBI public prosecutor DP Singh, while filing the fresh supplementary charge sheet in July, had told the court that the alleged act, involving Tejashwi Yadav, was committed with a different modus operandi. The deputy CM was questioned by the CBI in March. His sister Misa Bharti was also questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in March this year.

Tejashwi Yadav had petitioned the Delhi High Court in March, challenging the summons by the CBI. The agency had then assured the court that it was not contemplating arresting him "this month" (March). Significantly, the CBI counsel had told the court that the agency was ready with its supplementary charge sheet and would shortly file the same.