ED Questions Lalu Prasad's Daughter Chanda In Land-For-Jobs Case

The ED had on Monday questioned and recorded the statement Tejashwi Yadav in this case. (Photo: Chanda Yadav/Twitter)

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday recorded the statement of RJD chief Lalu Prasad's daughter Chanda Yadav in a money laundering case linked to the alleged land-for-jobs scam in the railway, sources said. Chanda Yadav deposed before the agency and her statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). She is the fourth child of the RJD chief, a former railway minister, to have deposed before the ED in this case till now. Lalu Prasad has nine children.

On Wednesday, his another daughter Ragini Yadav was questioned even as his MP-daughter Misa Bharti. His son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav has also been questioned at the agency's office in central Delhi. The agency had raided the premises of Chanda Yadav, her sisters Ragini Yadav and Hema Yadav, and former RJD MLA Abu Dojana in Patna, Phulwari Sharif, Delhi-NCR, Ranchi and Mumbai in March. The ED had on Monday questioned and recorded the statement Tejashwi Yadav in this case.

Misa Bharti was similarly questioned by the ED in this case on March 25, the same day Tejashwi Yadav had deposed before the CBI. Both the central agencies recently initiated action in the case, with the CBI questioning Lalu Prasad and his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and the ED carrying out raids against the RJD chief's family.

The ED, after the searches, said it seized "unaccounted cash" of Rs 1 crore and detected proceeds of crime worth Rs 600 crore. It said the investigation was underway to unearth more investments made on behalf of Prasad's family and their associates in various sectors, including real estate, at various places.

The alleged scam pertains to the period when Prasad was the railway minister in the UPA-1 government. It is alleged by the agencies that during 2004-09, various people were appointed to Group D positions in the railways in lieu of transferring land to the family members of Lalu Prasad, the then minister of railways, and A K Infosystems Pvt Ltd, a beneficiary company in this case.

It is alleged by the CBI that no advertisement or public notice was issued for the appointment but some residents of Patna were appointed as substitutes in different railway zones -- 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.

Denying the allegations, Tejashwi Yadav, after the questioning of his parents by the CBI, had told the media that the then railway minister Prasad had "no powers" to give employment.