IRCTC Hotels Case: Chargesheet Filed Against Lalu, Rabri, Tejashwi

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official said that the agency had filed a case against Lalu Prasad, his wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, his son and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and others.

(Photo altered by The Quint)

The CBI on Monday, 16 April, said it has filed a chargesheet against former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and others in connection with its probe into the alleged irregularities in the 2006 IRCTC hotels maintenance contract case.

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official said that the agency had filed a case against Lalu Prasad, his wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, his son and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and others.

The case pertains to the period when Lalu Prasad was the Railway Minister.

On 10 April, the CBI had grilled Rabri Devi for hours in Patna in connection with the case.

In October 2017, the investigating agency had questioned Lalu Prasad and his younger son Tejashwi Yadav in the case at its Delhi headquarters.

The CBI on 5 July 2017 filed a corruption case against Rabri Devi, Lalu Prasad, and Tejashwi Yadav for alleged irregularities in the allotment of contracts of two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels in Ranchi and Puri in 2006 to a private firm.

The contracts were given to Sujata Hotels, a company owned by Vijay and Vinay Kochhar – both named in the CBI FIR as accused – in lieu of bribe in the form of a three-acre commercial plot at a prime location in Patna district, the CBI said.

A preliminary CBI inquiry allegedly found that the said land was sold by the Kochhars to Delight Marketing Company and payment was arranged through Ahluwalia Contractors and its promoter Bikramjeet Singh Ahluwalia, another accused in the case.

Delight Marketing, which bought the property from the Kochhars, was later taken over by Rabri Devi and Tejashwi, the CBI has alleged.

Sarla Gupta, wife of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief's close associate Prem Chand Gupta and a director of Delight Marketing, is a co-accused in the case, apart from then IRCTC Managing Director PK Goel.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing the money laundering aspect in the case, regarding which it had on 27 July 2017 registered a separate case following the CBI FIR.

The ED is probing Lalu Prasad and others for alleged transfer of money through shell companies.