New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday postponed the formal framing of money laundering charges against former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav and six others in the alleged IRCTC hotel scam case.
Special Judge Prashant Kumar adjourned the proceedings until October 30 and asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to seek instructions in light of an earlier court order.
The matter was listed for October 3 after a previous court, on September 10, directed that charges be framed against nine of the 16 accused named by the ED. Seven others were discharged at that stage.
The case relates to alleged irregularities in the award of contracts for operating IRCTC hotels in Ranchi and Puri during Lalu Prasad Yadav’s tenure as Railway Minister. The ED has alleged that the tender process was manipulated in favour of Sujata Hotels.
According to the agency, the hotel operators later transferred a piece of valuable land in Patna to Delight Marketing Company Pvt. Ltd. (DMCPL), a company linked to former Union minister Prem Chand Gupta and his wife Sarla Gupta, at a price the agency described as undervalued.
The ED has further alleged that shares in the company were subsequently transferred to Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav at a substantially low price. The company was later renamed Lara Projects, according to the agency’s case.
The previous court had found sufficient grounds to proceed with money laundering charges against Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and other accused. It had also rejected the defence argument that the investigation was driven by political vendetta, saying the nature and course of the probe did not support that claim.
The latest adjournment means the formal process of framing the charges will now continue on October 30.
The money laundering proceedings are connected to a separate CBI case concerning alleged corruption in the award of the IRCTC hotel contracts. In that case, corruption charges had already been framed against Lalu Prasad Yadav and several others last year.
