A day after raids were conducted at 24 locations in Delhi-NCR, Patna, Mumbai and Ranchi at premises linked to former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his son, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and his daughters. In its probe into railway jobs in exchange for land, the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday claimed that it has seized documents disclosing “proceeds of crime” worth Rs 600 crore.
According to the agency, ownership of immovable properties worth Rs 350 crore and transactions worth Rs 250 crore were documented through various benami rates.
The raids were carried out in a money laundering probe in the case, which dates back to Lalu’s tenure as railway minister under the UPA government and involved extortion of land from people holding Group D jobs in various sectors of the railways.
“During the course of investigation, it has been revealed that more than 50 per cent of the candidates recruited in various railway zones were from the constituencies of Lalu Prasad’s family,” the ED said.
The agency claims that the land, allegedly taken as bribe from “poor parents”, was later sold at a huge premium, with the money being deposited mainly in Tejashwi’s accounts.
The properties being probed by the ED include a four-storey bungalow D-1088 in New Friends Colony, New Delhi. This picture, worth around Rs 150 crore, has been shown to have been bought for just Rs 4 lakh. The ED has alleged that the property is registered in the name of AB Exports Pvt Ltd, a company owned and controlled by Tejashwi.
The ED said, “During the search, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav was found staying in this house and was found using this house as his residential property.” As per the ED’s claims, Tejashwi has emerged as the prime beneficiary of the “land-for-job scam”.
The investigation conducted so far has revealed that the family of the then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had illegally acquired several pieces of land at prime locations in Patna and other areas in lieu of getting jobs in the Railways.
The ED said in a press note that the current market value of these lands is more than Rs 200 crore. The agency also said that it has identified several benamidars, shell entities and beneficial owners for these lands.
“It is suspected that a huge amount of cash/proceeds of crime has been used in the purchase of this property and in this regard certain Mumbai based entities dealing in gems and jewelery sector have been used to channelize the illicit proceeds of crime.” Has been done.” was done,” the ED further said.
“Investigation has found that four parcels of land acquired by Lalu Yadav’s family from poor Group D applicants for a mere Rs 7.5 lakh were sold by Rabri Devi to former RJD MLA Syed Abu Dojana at a huge profit of Rs 3.5 crore , which were fraudulent deals.” A major part of the amount thus received was transferred to Tejashwi’s account, the ED said.
The agency said it seized Rs 1 crore in unaccounted cash, $1,900 in foreign currency, 540 grams of gold bullion and over 1.5 kg of gold jewelery (worth Rs 1.25 crore), various property documents, family members (of Lalu Yadav) Seized the sale deed. The names have been recovered.