IRCTC scam case: Delhi court frames charges against Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi & Tejashwi Yadav; trial to begin from Oct 27

New Delhi: Just days ahead of assembly polls in Bihar, a Delhi court on Monday framed charges against RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Bihar CM Rabri Devi and their son and leader of opposition Tejashwi Yadav in the alleged IRCTC scam case.

Terming former Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav as the “fountain head of criminal conspiracy”, Special Judge Vishal Gogne paved the way for the day-to-day trial of the case against the three members of the Yadav family and 11 others from October 27.

The trial would proceed under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act for offences including the criminal conspiracy, cheating, abusing their official position and criminal misconduct by public servants.

In his 244-page order, the judge cited the “quid-pro quo” aspect in the case after the CBI accused the Yadav family of manipulating Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation(IRCTC) tenders and illegal land transfers.

Lalu Prasad Yadav, (77), is accused of hatching a criminal conspiracy during his tenure as the Railways minister with the Kochhar brothers - Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar, (both Directors of M/s. Sujata Hotel Private Limited, owners of Hotel Chanakya, Patna), and others to extend undue favours to the firm in awarding contracts for sub-leasing the Railway’s BNR Hotels at Ranchi and Puri.

In return, the Kochhars allegedly sold a prime plot of land in Patna to a company controlled by Lalu Prasad’s close aide, Prem Chand Gupta, and his associates and this company was later taken over by Yadav’s family members, transferring the valuable property to them at a nominal price, according to the CBI chargesheet.

Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi pleaded “not guilty” and claimed trial after the charges were read over to them by the judge.

The two-phase assembly elections in Bihar will be held on November 6 and 11. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), headed by Lalu Yadav, is one of the major political parties in the state, and heads the opposition alliance Mahagathbandhan in which the Congress is also a constituent.

The BJP launched a blistering attack on the RJD, claiming scams, manipulation in awarding government contracts and taking people’s land after promising jobs were its model of governance.

“Tejashwi Yadav is going to change Bihar with the charge of 420 (Section 420 of the erstwhile criminal code IPC referred to cheating) being framed against him by a competent court,” senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told a press conference.

RJD's Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha claimed that a "miscarriage of justice" driven by political rivalry has undermined the rule of law and eroded public trust in democratic institutions.

Finding prima facie evidence against the accused, the judge, in his order, said, “Lalu Prasad Yadav is under grave suspicion of having overseen and influenced the fidelity of the tender process in order to favour M/s Sujata Hotel Pvt. Ltd."

Th court pointed out, this influence garnered pecuniary gain in the hands of his family while possibly causing wrongful loss to the state/public exchequer both on account of the under valuation of the land when sold by the Kochhars to M/s DMCPL in 2005 and also when the tender was awarded to a bidder on account of manipulation of the bids as well as the evaluation of the same.

The special CBI court said the influencing of the tender process for favouring a private party and to then receive consideration in the form of land parcels (in favour of his family members) is constitutive prima facie of the abuse of position as a public servant for acquiring pecuniary advantage and such influence was apparently exercised without any public interest.

The court found the accused prima facie liable to be charged with conspiracy to commit the offences punishable under section 420 IPC and section 13(2) read with section 13(1) (d)(ii) and (iii) of the PC Act.

The court framed criminal conspiracy charges punishable under Section 120B IPC against all the accused.

The court rejected the submissions of political witch hunting and said the allegation of “political motivation to this prosecution is a double edged sword.”

“If one proposition is that Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family have been targeted by the new Government at the centre post the year 2014, the equally arguable alternate proposition is that he was given a clean chit by the previous dispensation also on account of political motivation. Thus, the court finds no reason to accept the contention, at this stage of proceedings...are politically motivated,” it said.

On the “quid-pro quo” aspect, the court referred to the sale of shares of M/s DMCPL to Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav by Sarla Gupta, the wife of Prem Chand Gupta, at under valued rates and in suspicious circumstances wherein many of the shareholders cited as witnesses purportedly claimed ignorance of these transactions.

Besides the Yadavs, the court framed charges for various offences against M/s LARA Projects LLP, Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar, Sarla Gupta, Pradeep Kumar Goel, Prem Chand Gupta, Rakesh Saksena, Bhupendra Kumar Agarwal Rakesh Kumar Gogia, Vinod Kumar Asthana and M/s Sujata Hotel Pvt Ltd.