Land for jobs scam: Lalu Prasad questioned by the CBI for nearly two hours

PATNA: A day after questioning former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi for almost four hours, the CBI on Tuesday grilled RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his Rajya Sabha member daughter Misa Bharti at their residence in New Delhi for nearly five hours in two sessions in the land for jobs scam case.

The case pertains to people allegedly given employment in the railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold at cheap rates to the Yadav family and its associates, the officials said.

During the exercise, which was videographed, the former Bihar chief minister was confronted with some documents in a room where he is quarantined post-kidney transplant surgery, the officials said.

They said the fresh round of questioning is taking place as part of "further investigation", where the agency is trying to ascertain the money trail and a larger conspiracy.

Mr Yadav’s interrogation a week ahead of his appearance in the Delhi court in cases related to the land for jobs scam has raised the political temperature in Bihar.

The RJD leaders in Patna called the interrogation part of the Central government’s attempt to put pressure on Mr Yadav and his son Tejashwi Yadav ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"The BJP has been under pressure after the Mahagathbandhan rally held in Purnea turned out to be a grand success despite their efforts to derail the event," RJD spokesperson Shakti Yadav said.

Mr Yadav, who had recently returned from Singapore following a kidney transplant, made a brief appearance at the Mahagathbandhan rally via video conference, urging the opposition parties to unite and defeat the Modi government at the Centre.

"We can understand their (the BJP) pain. They know the reality and we are also confident that those who came to power in 2014 will be defeated in 2024. Mr Yadav’s brief appearance in the rally through a video conference has made the entire BJP restless", the RJD spokesperson said.

RJD supremo ’s Singapore-based daughter Rohini Acharya also took to Twitter on Tuesday and warned the Centre for targeting her father and the entire family.

"My father is being harassed unnecessarily. I will not spare anyone if anything happens to him. We will never forget this kind of harassment. Time is powerful; it has great power," Ms Acharya tweeted.

Bihar's deputy chief minister termed the CBI action a result of his family's "relentless opposition" to the BJP.

"It is an open secret that probe agencies are acting against political opponents of the BJP and helping those who agree to align with that party," the RJD leader told reporters outside the Bihar Assembly on Monday after the questioning of Ms Devi.

He said that railway minister Prasad had "no powers" to give employment in exchange for favours. He got support from Congress and the AAP, which targeted the Central government, alleging that the saffron party wanted to "suppress" the voice of the Opposition.

"Today Rabri Devi ji is being harassed. Lalu Prasad ji and his family have been harassed for years because they did not bow down," Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had tweeted.

AAP convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said targeting and harassing Opposition leaders is wrong. The CBI had recently arrested the former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy scam case.

Meanwhile, the BJP has strongly reacted to the RJD's allegations. The BJP pointed out that it was the JD(U) leaders who handed over the documents related to the land for jobs scam to the Central agencies in 2009.

According to BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand, "the RJD needs to recall what happened in 2009. The whistleblower in the case was none other than Lalan Singh, who was the JD(U) state president in 2009 and Shivanand Tiwary. Both leaders held a press conference and spoke about the land for jobs scam. The ongoing questioning is part of the investigation. But now that they have joined hands in Bihar, the same people who blew the whistle are calling Mr Yadav the victim in the case."

He added: "Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and his subordinates have taken another U-turn. Now, Mr Kejriwal who earlier stayed away from Mr Yadav due to his corruption cases, has also started calling him a victim. From 2009 to 2014, it was the Congress government at the Centre when the investigation started. They can go up to any extent for their political gains."

The CBI had filed the chargesheet in October last year against former Union minister for railways Mr Yadav, Ms Devi, their daughter Ms Bharti and 13 others in the land for jobs scam.

The alleged scam took place between 2004 and 2009, during Mr Yadav's tenure as the railway minister. On February 27, Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court took cognisance of the chargesheet and issued summons against Mr Yadav, Ms Devi and 14 others in cases related to the land for jobs scam.