Land For Job Case: Delhi Court Grants Regular Bail To Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav

New Delhi [India] : The Rouse Avenue court in Delhi on Wednesday granted regular bail to Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav and Hridyanand Chaudhary in land-for-job case linked to money laundering.

All these accused appeared physically before the court. Earlier, they were granted interim bail on February 9.

Special judge Vishal Gogne granted regular bail to accused persons on furnishing of bail bond of Rs one lakh and surety bond in the like amount. The court said that they were not arrested during the investigation. There is no apprehension of the accused fleeing from the law.

ED filed the reply on the regular bail applications of Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav and Hridyanand Chaudhary. The special public prosecutor (SPP) for ED Manish Jain along with Snehal Sharda appeared and submitted that if the bail is granted, strict conditions may be imposed in view of the gravity of the allegations.

Meanwhile, Amit Katyal has also moved an application seeking an extension of interim bail. He is on interim till March 4.

The court has asked the ED to file a reply on the application and listed the matter on March 5. Interim bail is deemed to be extended till the next date, the court said. The court had granted interim bail to Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, and Hema Yadav after they appeared in court on February 9.

They were summoned by the court after taking cognizance of a charge sheet filed by the Directorate of Enforcement.

Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav and Hridyanand Chaudhary appeared physically. Amit Katyal appeared through video conferencing. The Rouse Avenue court on January 27, issued summons to former Bihar CM Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav, Hridyanand Chaudhary and other accused in the case.

Special Judge Vishal Gogne had issued summons to accused persons after taking Cognizance of the charge sheet filed by the ED. The court issued a production warrant to produce Amit Katyal on the next date of hearing.

Two firms namely AK Infosystem and AB Export have also been accused in this case. Cognizance has been taken against these firms. While taking cognizance of the charge sheet the court said that there is sufficient material to take cognizance.

ED had submitted that in 2006-07 A K Infosystem was formed by Amit Katyal and its business was IT data analysis. No real business was done. Instead, several land parcels were bought by the company. One land parcel pertains to the main predicate offence which is land for a job.

This company was transferred in the name of Rabri Devi and Tejaswi Yadav in 2014 for the consideration of one lakh rupees, ED submitted. ED had submitted that Amit Katyal is the only arrested accused. Other accused are Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav, A K Infosystem, A B export and Hridyanand Chaudhary.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 9, 2024 filed a Prosecution Complaint (Charge sheet) in Land for job scam money laundering case. ED had named Bihar’s Ex CM Rabri Devi, her daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, Hridyanand Chaudhary and Amit Katyal. Two firms, AB Export and AK Infosystems, have also been accused.

The Delhi High Court had refused to quash ED proceedings against Amit Katyal, who is accused of engaging in transactions with the family members of former railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.

According to the ED in March month, based on the specific intelligence inputs, searches were conducted at 24 locations at various places in Delhi NCR, Patna, Mumbai and Ranchi in the Railways land for job scam, which resulted in recovery of unaccounted cash of Rs 1 crore, foreign currency including USD 1900, 540 gms gold bullion and more than 1.5 kg of gold jewellery (worth around Rs 1.25 crore), as well as several other incriminating documents, including various property documents, sale deeds, etc., held in the names of family members and benamidaars indicating illegal accretion of huge land bank and electronic devices.

Searches resulted in the detection of Proceeds of Crime amounting to Rs 600 crore at this point in time which is in the form of immovable properties of Rs 350 crore and transactions of Rs 250 crore routed through various benamidaars, ED stated.

The ED investigation conducted so far has revealed that several pieces of land at prominent locations in Patna and other areas were allededly illegally acquired by the family of the then Rail Mantri, Lalu Prasad Yadav, in lieu of jobs provided in the railways. The current market value of these land parcels is more than Rs 200 crore. In this regard, several benamidars, shell entities and beneficial owners for these lands have been identified.

Further, investigation under PMLA revealed that the property situated at New Friends Colony, Delhi (independent 4-storied bungalow, registered in the name of AB 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, the present market value of which is approximately Rs 150 crore.

It is suspected that a huge amount of cash/Proceeds of Crime has been infused into purchasing this property and a 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 the office of AB Exports Private Limited and AK Infosystems Pvt ltd, it is being exclusively used as residential premises by Tejasvi Prasad Yadav, son of Lalu Prasad Yadav. During the searches, Tejasvi Prasad Yadav was found to be staying at this house and was found to be using this house as his residential property.

ED investigation has found that 4 parcels of lands acquired by the family of Lalu Yadav in just Rs 7.5 lakh 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.

ED investigation further revealed that a major portion of the amount thus received, was transferred to the account of Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.

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, stated ED.