BIHAR: ED QUESTIONS TEJASHWI FOR EIGHT HOURS IN ‘LAND-FOR-JOBS’ SCAM

Former deputy chief minister of Bihar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav left the Enforcement Directorate office after eight hours of questioning in the money laundering probe into the alleged land-for-job scam.
The former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister was seen waving to his supporters outside the ED office.

Tejashwi Yadav arrived at Enforcement Directorate office around 11.35 am amid heavy security deployment and a large number of RJD members and supporters who raised slogans in his support.
He appeared before the probe agency a day after his father and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was questioned for nearly ten hours by the central agency in the same case.
The central probe agency had on January 19 issued a fresh summons for questioning Prasad and Yadav.

Earlier in the day, RJD MP Manoj Jha asserted that the BJP’s top leadership is afraid of opposition parties, and it is targeting them by misusing central investigation agencies. “The BJP is using the ED, CBI and IT Department against those it is afraid of. That is why it is trying to break (opposition parties) through these central agencies,” he said.
Shakti Singh, RJD’s Member of Legislative Council (MLC), said, “It’s a known fact that Tejashwi Yadav was a minor at the time when the alleged scam took place. BJP leaders are ruffled as he provided a large number of jobs to people in the previous ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government in Bihar.”

The RJD was a key constituent of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’.
Reacting to the RJD’s allegations, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary told reporters, “When Lalu Prasad was the CM, he was involved in the fodder scam. When he was the Railways Minister, the land-for-jobs scam took place. The ED will certainly investigate the case.”

Lalu is being quizzed for his alleged involvement in the Land for Jobs scam. The alleged scam occurred when Lalu Yadav was Railway Minister between 2004 and 2009. Apart from the RJD national president, the chargesheet also includes the name of the then-Railway General Manager.

In lieu of getting them appointed in the Railways, Lalu Prasad Yadav allegedly got lands transferred owned by candidates and their family members in the names of his wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti for sale consideration, which was much less than the prevailing circle rates as well as the prevailing market rates.

The CBI filed the chargesheet in October last year against former Bihar chief ministers Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, their daughter Misa Bharti, and 13 others in the land-for-jobs scam.
According to the CBI, the people were first recruited as substitutes in Group D posts in the Railways and were regularised when their families made a land deal. The CBI is probing the allegations of taking land for a bribe in lieu of a job in the railways.
At the same time, ED is investigating the case of money laundering.
The CBI also filed a charge sheet in this case.