Sushil Modi fires another salvo against Lalu Prasad's family

Sushil Modi had earlier alleged that Lalu during his tenure as Railways minister had in February 2005 sold off two hotels in Puri and Ranchi controlled by the Railways to a hospitality chain.

Patna, April 11: Senior Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday alleged that RJD chief Lalu Prasad's family were involved in a ploy to get prime land transferred in their names in lieu of favours.

Prasad's family, he said, had become owners of prime land here worth crores of rupees earlier owned by A K Infosystems Pvt Ltd. Sushil Modi, who presented a set of documents to support his charges, said the company was incoroprated on September 28, 2006 by Amit Katyal and Rajesh Katyal who had had set up a liquor factory called 'Iceberg Industries Pvt Ltd' at Bihta in Patna district in 2003-04 when Rabri Devi was Bihar chief minister.

"Lalu Prasad got cent per cent shares of the company transferred in the names of his wife and his son Tejashwi while his two daughters Chanda Yadav and Ragini Lalu were made the directors of the firm in 2014 ... Katyals handed over A K Infosystems Pvt Ltd, which owns land at prime locations in Patna worth crores to Prasad's family for helping them (Katyals) in setting up a liquor factory at Bihta," Sushil Modi claimed.

Helping anyone while being in office in order to get benefits in the form of property/land/money comes under the purview of Prevention of Corruption Act, he said. Sushil Modi said Prasad's sons Tej Pratap Yadav, the Bihar health minister and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the deputy chief minister, had resigned from the post of directors of the company on November 9, 2015, a day after the results of Bihar Assembly polls were declared.

Now Prasad's two daughters are the directors while all its shares are held by Rabri and Tejashwi. Modi asked Prasad to tell people where A K Infosystems Pvt Ltd has plots/land in Patna and sought to know why the Katyals had made his sons and daughters directors of the company and why all shares were transferred by them to Prasad's family members. He said that Prasad's family had adopted the same modus operandi of getting shares transferred in the names of his family members as in the case of Delight Marketing Pvt Ltd.

Sushil Modi had on April 4 alleged that Prasad during his tenure as Railways minister had in February 2005 sold off two hotels in Puri and Ranchi controlled by the Railways to a hospitality chain owned by a person Harsh Kochar. Kochar in turn got two acres registered in the name of Delight Marketing Company Pvt Ltd, in which Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi, sons Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, were made directors.

Later, Delight was re-christened as LARA Projects LLP in November 2016 in the name of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi. The BJP leader also demanded that an FIR be lodged for misusing the the chief minister's official residential by Chanda Yadav as her own as as adirector of Delight Marketing Pvt Ltd in 2014 and her brothers had countersigned on the documents submitted to the registrar. Their mother Rabri Devi had quit office as chief minister in 2005.

PTI