CBI registers fresh case against Lalu Prasad Yadav, daughter in graft case, searches multiple places

New Delhi, May 20: The CBI has registered a fresh case against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members on the charge of taking land from aspirants in return for jobs in the railways when he was the Union Minister in the UPA government, officials said on Friday.

The probe agency has started searches at 17 locations in Delhi and Bihar, they said.

The CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry into allegations which was converted into the FIR, they said.
Following the FIR against Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, daughters Misa and Hema, besides several candidates, the CBI started a search operation on Friday morning at 16 locations in Delhi, Patna and Gopalganj.

The probe agency has registered the FIR under IPC section 120-B, which deals with criminal conspiracy, and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, officials said.

It is alleged that several prime properties were given to the Yadav family in exchange for jobs in Railways under Lalu Prasad Yadav from 2008 to 2009.

The fresh case comes weeks after Yadav was released on bail in the fodder scam in which he was convicted by a special court in Ranchi.

In a cryptic tweet, Rashtriya Janata Dal took a veiled dig at the CBI, "Tota (parrot) hai, Toton ka kya."
The CBI had earned the sobriquet from an observation of the Supreme Court, calling it a "parrot" of political masters during the UPA government.

Lalu, who was discharged on May 5 from AIIMS in Delhi, is currently in Delhi. He is staying at his daughter Misa Bharti's residence who is a Rajya Sabha MP.

The alleged land-for-jobs scam pertains to the period when Lalu Prasad Yadav was the railway minister in the UPA government, officials said.