Land-for-job scam: CBI arrests Lalu's close aide Bhola Yadav

New Delhi, July 27: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested RJD leader Bhola Yadav, a close aide of party supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, in connection with the alleged land-for-job case.

The central agency is conducting raids about four locations in Bihar -- two each in Darbhanga and Patna -- belonging to Yadav, who was the officer on special duty (OSD) to the then railway minister Prasad between 2005 and 2009, officials said.

Yadav, fondly referred to as "Hanuman" or the "shadow" of Prasad among Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supporters, was questioned by the CBI in connection with the scam, in which land measuring over one lakh square feet belonging to job aspirants' families in Patna was allegedly purchased or transferred to Prasad's family members in return for group-D jobs in the railways.

The CBI suspects that Yadav had played a crucial role in facilitating the jobs and later, the transfer of land to Prasad's family. Considered to be Prasad's "man Friday", Yadav had taken a plunge in electoral politics and won the Bahadurpur seat in Darbhanga in the 2015 Bihar Assembly polls on an RJD ticket.

He decided to change the seat in 2020 to Hayaghat in the same district, a decision that proved to be costly as he lost the polls.

The agency is carrying out searches at two locations in Patna and two in Darbhanga in Bihar in connection with the case, they said. Bhola Yadav served as OSD to Lalu Yadav during 2005-09, they said.

In May, the central agency registered a fresh FIR against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and family members for allegedly taking over one lakh sq ft land in Patna from candidates in return for group D jobs in Railways during 2004-09 when he was the railway minister in the UPA government.

Following the registration of FIR on May 18 by the Economic Offences wing of the CBI, the agency started a search operation at 16 locations in Delhi, Patna and Gopalganj at the premises of Prasad, his family members and other accused.

The CBI has named Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, and daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, in addition to 12 people who were given jobs in Railway zones of Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, Hajipur, the officials had earlier told PTI.

The central agency had registered a preliminary enquiry on September 23, 2021 related to the land-for-jobs scam in Railways.

The candidates were appointed as substitutes in group D positions within three days of applying in "undue haste" by Railway officials and were later regularised "in lieu thereof the individuals themselves or their family members transferred their land".

The transfers were made through three sale deeds in the name of Rabri Devi and one in the name of Misa Bharti and two gift deeds in the name Hema Yadav.

One sale deed was executed in the name of a company A K Infosystems Private Limited in which Rabri Devi became a majority shareholder in 2014 and currently one of the directors of the company, the FIR alleged.

Lalu Prasad's family allegedly paid Rs 3.75 lakh to Rs 13 lakh for the lands acquired by them which according to circle rates were approximately valued at Rs 4.39 crore, the CBI alleged.

In the case of gift deeds to Hema Yadav, a person named Brij Nandan Rai allegedly transferred 3,375 sq ft land in Patna to a man called Hridayanand Choudhary for Rs 4.21 lakh in 2008. Choudhary was later appointed as substitute in Hazipur and he subsequently transferred the land in 2014 to Hema Yadav.

"The value of said land as per prevailing circle rate at the time of gift was Rs 62.10 lakh," the FIR alleged.