CBI moves court over Tejashwi Yadav's bail in IRCTC scam case

New Delhi, Sep 17: The CBI on Saturday moved a court seeking the cancellation of bail granted to Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav in the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) scam.

Special Judge Geetanjali Goel issued a notice to Yadav on the application moved by the probe agency and sought his reply by September 28. The court had in October 2018 granted bail to the minister after he appeared before it in pursuance to summons issued against him in the matter related to alleged irregularities in granting operational contract of two IRCTC hotels to a private firm.

According to the charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), between 2004 and 2014, a conspiracy was hatched in pursuance of which BNR hotels of the Indian Railways, located in Puri and Ranchi, were first transferred to IRCTC and later, for its operations, maintenance and upkeep, given on lease to Sujata Hotels Private Limited, which is based in Patna, Bihar.

It is alleged that the tender process was rigged and manipulated and the conditions were tweaked to help the private party - Sujata Hotels.

Based on the CBI case, the ED had also lodged a case of money laundering against Prasad, Devi, Yadav and others.

Among others named in the chargesheet are - then group general managers of IRCTC V K Asthana and R K Goyal and Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar, both directors of Sujata Hotels and owners of Chanakya Hotel.

Delight Marketing Company, now known as Lara Projects, and Sujata Hotels Private Limited have also been named as accused firms in the chargesheet.

In 2001, it was decided to handover the management of catering services of the Indian Railways, including of its hotels, to the IRCTC. Two such hotels - BNR Hotels in Ranchi and Puri - were also identified and a memorandum of understanding was signed between the railways and the IRCTC on March 19, 2004.

According to an FIR flied by the CBI, Prasad, the then railway minister, entered into criminal conspiracy with the owner of Sujata Hotels, Sarla Gupta, wife of his close associate Prem Chand Gupta, a Rashtriya Janata Dal MP in Rajya Sabha, and IRCTC officials for "undue pecuniary advantage to himself and others".