New Delhi. Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court has framed charges against former Bihar CM and former Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and other members of his family in the IRCTC money laundering case. Charges have been framed against a total of 9 accused, in which apart from Lalu Yadav, his wife and former Chief Minister of Bihar Rabri Devi, his younger son and Leader of Opposition, Bihar Legislative Assembly Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu's close aide Prem Chand Gupta, his wife Sarla Gupta, Vinay Kochhar, Vijay Kochhar, Lara Projects and Sujata Hotels. The court has also acquitted 7 accused.
Lalu Prasad Yadav's son-in-law Rahul Yadav, Gaurav Gupta, Vijay Tripathi, Devki Nandan Tulsyan, Nath Mal Kankarnia, Rajiv Relan and Abhishek Finance Private Limited have been acquitted. The court has fixed October 3 for the next hearing in the case. Special judge Vishal Gogane said that the way Lara projects were benefited raises doubts on the role of Lalu Yadav. Earlier, Rabri Devi had appealed to transfer the case, accusing Judge Vishal Gogane of being biased.
This case related to IRCTC is from the first term of UPA government between 2004 and 2009, at that time Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Union Railway Minister. It is alleged that rules were violated in awarding the contract for maintenance of two IRCTC hotels to a private firm. The contract for maintenance of BNR hotels in Ranchi and Puri was given by IRCTC to Sujata Hotels Private Limited, a private firm of two industrialists named Vijay Kochhar and Vinay Kochhar. According to CBI, in return, three pieces of land were transferred to Tejashwi and Rabri Devi's company Lara Projects. The market value of this land was Rs 94 crore and circle rate was Rs 32 crore, whereas this land was given to Lara Projects for only Rs 65 lakh.