Patna:
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said on Friday that the interrogation of his mother Rabri Devi by the Enforcement Directorate in the land-for-jobs case was linked to political shifts in the country, particularly next year’s election in the state and last week’s defeat of the BJP in Karnataka.
“We knew this would happen. They are after us because they are afraid of Bihar after Karnataka. They can involve me in the case in the future. I don’t care. The innocent and I have nothing to fear.” he said.
Former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi was questioned for about five hours in Delhi on Thursday by the central body investigating financial crimes in a money laundering case linked to the alleged land-for-jobs scam.
Sources at the agency said the statement of 68-year-old Rabri Devi, wife of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav, was included under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), PTI news agency reported.
Rabri Devi’s children, including Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav, daughters Misa Bharti (RJD Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha), Chanda Yadav and Ragini Yadav, have also been questioned by the agency in recent months in the case.
The agency had claimed that during searches of the case in March this year it seized “irresponsible cash” of Rs 1 crore and discovered proceeds of crime worth Rs 600 crore.
The alleged scam is related to Lalu Yadav’s tenure as Minister of Railways in the early 2000s, and the money laundering case stems from a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR.
The agencies allege that between 2004 and 2009, many were appointed to lower positions in different zones of the Indian Railways, handing over their lands to Mr Yadav’s relatives in return.
The CBI alleges in its complaint that no advertisement or public notice was issued for the appointment, but some residents of Patna have been appointed to various zonal railways in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hazipur.
In return, the candidates, either directly or through their close relatives, allegedly sold land to Mr Yadav’s relatives at heavily discounted rates, down to one-fourth to one-fifth of the prevailing market rates. supposedly.
Tejashwi Yadav has denied these allegations in the past, saying his father had “no authority” to give work in return for favours.