Tejashwi to join ED probe in 'land for job' case today

New Delhi: Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav is likely to join on Tuesday the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe in connection with the alleged land for job matter involving his father and former Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and other family members.

Tejashwi is likely to join the probe by 11 a.m. Earlier, he was questioned the CBI in the same matter on March 25.

On the same day (March 25) his sister and Rajya Sabha Member Misa Bharti was questioned by the ED.

In March, the ED had come up on record saying unaccounted cash of Rs 1 crore, besides gold and incriminating documents were recovered during the raids which were conducted at 24 locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna and Ranchi based on on the specific intelligence inputs.

The ED had said that they detected around Rs 600 crore, which were Proceeds of Crime (POC), in the form of immovable assets of Rs 350 crore and transactions of Rs 250 crore routed through various benamidaars.

The ED said that PMLA investigation conducted so far has revealed that several pieces of land at prominent locations in Patna and other areas were illegally acquired by the family of Lalu Prasad in lieu of jobs provided in Railways. The current market value of these land parcels is more than Rs 200 crore.

According to ED, several benamidars, shell entities and beneficial owners for these lands have been identified.

"A property situated at D-1088, New Friends Colony, Delhi (registered in the name of A B Exports Private Limited, a company owned and controlled by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and family) was shown to have been acquired at a value of mere Rs 4 lakh, while the present market value of the property is approximately Rs 150 crore," the ED claimed.

An ED official said: "Huge amount of cash were infused in purchasing this property and few Mumbai-based entities, dealing in the gems and jewellery sector were used to channel ill-gotten proceeds of crime in this regard."

"The property has been though, on paper declared as office of A B Exports Private Limited and A K Infosystems Pvt Ltd, is being exclusively used as residential premises by Tejashwi. During the searches, Tejashwi was found to be staying at this house and was found to be using this house as his residential property," the ED alleged.

The official said that their investigation has found that four parcels of lands "acquired by the family of Lalu Yadav in just Rs 7.5 lakhs from poor Group-D applicants were sold to Syed Abu Dojana, Ex-RJD MLA by Rabri Devi with huge gains at Rs 3.5 crore in a collusive deal".

The ED said that their investigation has further revealed that a major portion of the amount thus received, was transferred to the account of Tejashwi.

"Investigations revealed that in a similar fashion, lands were taken from several poor parents and candidates in lieu of Group D jobs in the Railways. It has been revealed during the investigation that in many Railways Zones, more than 50 per cent of recruited candidates were from Lalu Yadav families' constituencies," the ED said.

Further investigation into the case is on.