New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has called at least ten railway workers for questioning in relation to the case next week as part of its ongoing investigation into the purported land-for-job scam, sources said on Friday.
CBI sources claim that the organization has scheduled at least ten railroad workers for interrogation from November 21–25 at its headquarters in the nation’s capital.
The workers who have been called in are presently employed by the Bihar railways in the Barauni and Sonpur divisions.
According to the sources, the agency received some new leads in the case, which prompted the development.
On May 18, 2022, the CBI filed a case against Lalu Prasad, the former chief of the RJD and minister of the railways, and 15 other people, including his wife Rabri Devi, two daughters, and unidentified public servants and private individuals.
The Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, and his son were all named in a charge sheet filed by the CBI on July 3.
“From 2004 to 2009, Lalu Prasad (then Railway Minister) had obtained pecuniary advantages in the form of transfer of landed property in the name of his family members in lieu of appointment of substitutes in Group ‘D’ posts in different zones of the Railways,” a CBI official had previously stated.
Many Patna residents either sold or gave away their land to members of Lalu Prasad’s family and a private company that is under their control, either directly or through family members.
“The appointees, who were all Patna residents, were appointed as substitutes in various zones located in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hajipur despite no public notice or advertisement being issued for such an appointment.
“In continuation of this modus operandi, about 1,05,292 sq ft land and immovable properties located in Patna were acquired by Lalu Prasad and his family members through five sales deeds and two gift deeds, showing the payment made to the seller in cash in most of the land transfer,” the CBI had said.
