Land-for-jobs ‘scam’: Delhi court orders framing of charges against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav

A Delhi court on Friday ordered the framing of charges against RJD chief and former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his family members and others in the alleged land-for-jobs ‘scam’, holding that the CBI had made out a strong prima facie case of a criminal conspiracy centred on the misuse of public employment, PTI reported.

Special Judge Vishal Gogne said the material placed on record indicated that Yadav had allegedly used the railway ministry as his “personal fiefdom” to run a criminal enterprise in which government jobs were used as a bargaining tool to acquire land parcels for his family, allegedly in connivance with railway officials and close aides.

While orally pronouncing the substantive portion of the order, the judge said the CBI’s final report disclosed an “overarching conspiracy on the touchstone of grave suspicion.” He rejected the discharge pleas filed by the accused, including Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members, terming them “unwarranted” and observing that the former railway minister and others were “operating as a criminal enterprise to usurp land.”


The court also flagged what it described as an “abuse of decision” by railway officials. Referring to the prosecution’s case, the judge said, “Description of charge sheet constitutes the essentiality and core in the criminality as described.”

Charges have been ordered to be framed against 41 accused, while 52 others were discharged, including railway officials and substitutes who, according to the court, did not part with their land. The court noted that the CBI had earlier submitted a verification report stating that of the 103 accused named in its charge sheet, five had died.

The matter has now been posted for formal framing of charges on January 23, with the court indicating that a detailed order is awaited.

The CBI has filed charge sheets against Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, their son Tejashwi Yadav and others in connection with the case. The agency has alleged that appointments to Group-D posts in the West Central Railway zone, headquartered in Jabalpur, were made during Yadav’s tenure as railway minister from 2004 to 2009 in exchange for land parcels gifted or transferred by recruits in the names of Yadav’s family members or associates.

According to the CBI, the appointments were made in violation of prescribed norms and involved benami transactions, amounting to criminal conspiracy and misconduct. The accused have denied the allegations, claiming the case is politically motivated.