ED registers money laundering case against Lalu Yadav in railway hotel allotment corruption case

Ranchi: In a major blow to the RJD, the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday registered a money laundering case against its chief Lalu Yadav and his family members in a case of alleged corruption related to railway hotel allotment.

According to PTI, the case dates back to Congress-led UPA regime.

The case has been registered under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The central probe agency has taken cognisance of a CBI FIR in this regard to initiate the move.

Earlier this month, the CBI had registered a criminal FIR and conducted multiple searches against the former Bihar chief minister and others.

The ED action comes on a day when Nitish Kumar took oath as Bihar Chief Minister, hours after he snapped with Lalu's RJD.

Venting his ire on the JD(U) chief for dumping the 'Grand Alliance', RJD chief Lalu Prasad alleged that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had "conspired" with the BJP to get graft cases filed against his family by central investigation agencies.

"Nitish Kumar has cheated the people of Bihar. I charge that he (Nitish Kumar) colluded with BJP to file CBI cases against me and my family," Lalu Prasad told reporters after appearing before a CBI court here in a fodder scam case.

He said that Sushil Modi, who was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister, was asked to run a campaign to damage the image of his family members.

The CBI, ED and the Income Tax department have filed cases of corruption against the family members of Lalu Prasad, including his wife Rabri Devi, his youngest son Tejashwi Yadav, who was Bihar Deputy Chief Minister until Wednesday, and daughter Misa Bharti.

Describing Nitish Kumar as 'Bhasmasur', Lalu Prasad said, "I made him the Chief Minister despite my party being the single biggest party in the state. 

"I was not selfish," he said.

Lalu Prasad's remarks came soon after Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi took oath as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of a JD-U-BJP government in Bihar.

"When I was facing allegations, Nitish Kumar never called me or showed any sympathy. Friends are known to be sympathetic during tough times, but Nitish Kumar never paid heed towards me," he claimed. 

"Everything was fixed," Lalu Prasasd said, adding, "He is a very big opportunist. The mandate we got was against the BJP and the RSS. We jointly made them return empty handed from Bihar (during the 2015 Assembly election)."

He also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah were "jealous" of him. "They knew that my base is unshakable. I never gave Nitish Kumar any problems," he added.