Land-for-jobs PMLA case: Rabri Devi appears before ED for questioning

Former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the alleged land-for-jobs scam, official sources said.

She reached the office of the federal investigative agency in central Delhi around 11 AM. Devi stepped out for about an hour around noon for lunch and rejoined the questioning session after 2 pm.

The statement of the 68-year-old Devi, wife of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Rabri Devi's children, including Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, daughters Misa Bharti (RJD MP in Rajya Sabha), Chanda Yadav and Ragini Yadav have been questioned by the federal agency in this case over the last few months.

The agency had raided the premises of Chanda Yadav, Ragini Yadav, Hema Yadav, and former RJD MLA Abu Dojana in Patna, Phulwari Sharif, Delhi-NCR, Ranchi and Mumbai in March this year.

The agency later claimed to have seized ''unaccounted cash'' of Rs 1 crore and detected proceeds of crime worth Rs 600 crore during these searches.

The alleged scam pertains to the period when Lalu Prasad was the railway minister in the UPA-1 government.

The money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR.

It is alleged by the agencies that during the period 2004-09, various persons were appointed to Group D positions in various zones of the Indian Railways, and in lieu, the persons concerned transferred their land to the family members of Lalu Prasad. It is alleged by the CBI in its complaint that no advertisement or public notice was issued for the appointment but some residents of Patna were appointed as substitutes in different zonal railways located at Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hazipur.

As a quid pro quo, the candidates, directly or through their immediate family members, allegedly sold land to the family members of Prasad at highly discounted rates, up to one-fourth to one-fifth of the prevailing market rates, the CBI had alleged.

Tejashwi Yadav has denied these allegations in the past, saying that the then railway minister Prasad had ''no powers'' to give employment in exchange for favours.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)