CBI questions Lalu Prasad in land for jobs scam case for nearly 5 hours

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday questioned former railway minister Lalu Prasad in connection with the land-for-jobs case. He was quizzed for nearly five hours in two sessions by the central agency.

The agency on Monday had questioned Lalu Prasad's wife, former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, at her Patna residence for over five hours.

A team of CBI sleuths arrived at around 11 am at the New Delhi residence of Misa Bharti, Lalu Prasad's daughter with whom he has been staying after a recent kidney transplant procedure.


The agency has already filed a charge sheet in the case against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi and 14 others under charges of criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. A Delhi court had last month issued summons to Lalu Prasad and the other accused to appear before it on March 15.

The CBI has so far arrested three people in connection with 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 of the scandal; and Dharmendra Rai, another alleged beneficiary.

The CBI has alleged that Lalu Prasad and some of his family members had received plots of land as bribes for jobs at the Indian Railways between 2004 and 2009 when he was the railway minister.

The central agency had carried out searches at nearly two dozen locations in August last year in connection with the probe.