Land-for-job scam: Who is Hema Yadav, the lesser-known member of Lalu family?

Patna: The Rouse Avenue court in Delhi, which on Friday framed charges against 41 persons in the land-for-job scam, including former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his family members, has also brought into focus Hema Yadav, the lesser-known Yadav of the political dynasty.

While Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi and their daughter Misa Bharti (Lok Sabha MP), besides Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav (both sons and former ministers) are well-known political figures involved in the land-for-job scam, who actually is Hema Yadav?

Hema is the fifth daughter (among seven sisters and two brothers) of former Chief Ministers of Bihar - Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi. She was named Hema as Lalu is a big fan of actress Hema Malini.

An engineering graduate, who completed her B-Tech from Jharkhand-based Birla Institute of Technology (BIT) at Mesra in Ranchi, Hema was married into a business-cum-political family in 2012. Hema and her husband Vinit Yadav have stayed away from the limelight of Bihar politics.

Unlike her younger brothers Tej Pratap and Tejashwi or her elder sisters Misa Bharti (who is a Lok Sabha member from Pataliputra in Patna) or Rohini Acharya (who unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Saran against former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy), Hema has no political ambitions.

However, her name cropped up during the CBI investigation into the land-for-job scam. The premier investigating agency, during its raid at one Hridyanand Yadav in Bihar’s Gopalganj district, found that in lieu of a railway job given to Hridyanand’s kin, a premier land was ‘gifted’ to Hema Yadav too. Hema’s address in the registered papers (land deal) was mentioned as 10, Circular Road in Patna, which is the official residence of the former Bihar CM Rabri Devi.

Time to resign: JD (U)

“The court has rightly said that Lalu Prasad, while serving as Railway Minister in the UPA-I regime (from 2004-2009) worked as a ‘criminal syndicate’ and usurped expensive lands in lieu of giving jobs in Group D of the Railways. It’s high time Lalu Prasad resign as president of the RJD and their three family members Rabri Devi (RJD MLC), daughter Misa Bharti (RJD Lok Sabha MP) and son Tejashwi Yadav (RJD MLA, Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly) resign from their respective posts in view of the strictures passed by the court,” said Neeraj Kumar, JD (U) chief spokesperson and a key aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.