Lalu denies charges against him as baseless

New Delhi, Aug 13 (UNI) Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today emphatically refuted all allegations levelled against him in regard to land transactions, saying the charges by JD(U) Bihar unit President Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lallan' were "baseless, malicioius and a desperate attempt to malign my image".

It was being done to divert the attention of the people from the 'historic' performance of the Indian Railways over the last four years, he said in a statement here.

"The JD(U) has made a futile attempt to connect unconnected and totally unrelated events and transactions. Many of these transactions neither relate to me nor my family and in the case of those related to me, all the transactions are duly registered and transfer of title has taken place after payment of reasonable consideration to the seller," he said, asserting all transactions were duly reported in income tax returns.

Besides, he said, all land related transactions were included in the property returns filed by him in Parliament and with the Prime Minister's Office as required under the rules.

The Railway Minister said the manner in which charges had been levelled against him only showed the desperation of the JD(U) leader who was in the habit of "spreading canards and falsehood" and indulging in "frivolous litigation".

Mr Prasad also questioned the footage aired by a TV channel in which a persons was shown as saying that he had sold his land to the Railway Minister's family for a job in the Railways.

"This footage is totally false and fabricated as the person shown standing in it was Bishundeo Rai while the channel claimed him to be Kishundeo Rai,'' Mr Prasad claimed, while denying that either he or any of his family members bought any land whatsover from Bishundeo Rai.

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