ED Files Charge Sheet Against Rabri, Two Daughters In Land-For-Job Scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed its first charge sheet in a money-laundering case linked to the land-for-jobs scam, naming Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad's wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and their daughters, Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, among the seven accused.

The federal agency, which is conducting a probe on the basis of a first information report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), also named a "close associate" of the Yadav family Amit Katyal, railway employee and alleged beneficiary Hridayanand Chaudhary, and two firms AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd and AB Exports Pvt Ltd, through their common director Shariqul Bari, in the charge sheet that runs into nearly 4,700 pages.

The RJD alleged in response to the charge sheet that the central probe agencies were working at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre. The BJP dismissed the contention and accused the Lalu Prasad family of years of rampant corruption.

The land-for-jobs scam pertains to appointments in the Railways allegedly in return of land parcels for Lalu Prasad's family between 2004 and 2009, when he was the Union railways minister.

In October 2022, CBI filed its charge sheet against Lalu, Devi, Misa and 13 others in the case. In March last year, a Delhi court granted bail to Lalu, Rabri, Misa and others in CBI's case.