New Delhi, March 11 The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the CBI's stand on a petition filed by former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav challenging the framing of corruption charges against him in the alleged land-for-jobs scam case.
Justice Manoj Jain issued a notice to the agency on the RJD supremo's petition, and asked it not to examine the approvers in the trial court until the plea was decided.
The court listed Lalu Prasad’s petition for the next hearing on March 17, along with a plea by his close aide, Bhola Yadav, challenging the trial court's decision to pardon certain accused in the case and allowing them to turn approvers.
"We will not examine the approvers until we decide this. You examine others," Justice Jain told Additional Solicitor General D P Singh, appearing for the CBI.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Lalu Prasad, contended that no case of corruption was made out against the senior politician as he had "nothing to do" with recruitment as the railway minister.
The land-for-jobs case relates to Group D appointments made in the West Central Zone of the Indian Railways in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, during Lalu Prasad's tenure as the railway minister between 2004 and 2009, in return for land parcels gifted or transferred by the recruits in the names of the RJD supremo's family or associates, according to the CBI.
The case was registered on May 18, 2022, against Lalu Prasad and others, including his wife, two daughters, unidentified public officials and private persons.
Sibal asserted that there was no complaint by any of the candidates, and that the CBI registered the case based on "information".
He added that most land transactions in question were not contemporaneous to the recruitment and "there can't be bribery in respect of a commercial transaction”.
The CBI's case is only that the circle rate for the land was higher than the sale price, Sibal added.
The court was also informed that the appointed candidates were regularised after Lalu Prasad’s tenure as the railway minister.
On January 9, the trial court had ordered framing charges against Lalu Prasad, his family members and others.
On February 16, it formally framed charges against them under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Lalu Prasad has pleaded ‘not guilty’.
The trial court framed charges against 41 accused persons and discharged 52 others. Out of the 103 accused named in the CBI's chargesheet, five have died.
In its 346-page order, the trial court said, "The court finds, on the touchstone of grave suspicion, that there existed an overarching criminal conspiracy, mentored by Lalu Prasad Yadav, towards using public employment as a bargaining chip for receiving immovable properties through his wife Rabri Devi, daughters Misha Bharti and Hema Yadav, as well as sons Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav from willing job seekers."
The order cited the CBI's chargesheet and said there was a strong indication that the close associates of Lalu Prasad, namely Bhola Yadav, R K Mahajan and P C Gupta, probably facilitated, as co-conspirators, the acquisition of these lands in lieu of jobs provided to the nominees of the former railway minister in Group D posts across various railway zones in the country.
The RJD leader's petition to quash the CBI FIR is pending in the high court.