Lalu Yadav says wife Rabri, 2 sons own Rs 750 crore mall land

Patna: After maintaining silence for almost five days over allegations that his family owns property worth Rs 750 crore, RJD chief Lalu Yadav came out to admit that the large patch of land on which the mall was being constructed belongs to his wife Rabri Devi and two minister sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi Yadav.

Mr Yadav said that the large patch of land was purchased by Delight Marketing Company owned by his closest aide and five-time Rajya Sabha MP Prem Gupta in the year 2005 but later in 2008 shares of the company were sold to his wife Rabri Devi.

He further said that the family members later decided to make commercial use of the property and gave the land to Meridian Construction Company on a profit-sharing basis.

“My family will get only 50 per cent share of the mall and the rest will go to Meridian constructions,” RJD chief said. Mr Yadav also confirmed that the land on which the mall is being built belongs to Lara projects LLP in which his wife Rabri Devi and two minister sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi Yadav are shareholders.

The RJD chief dismissed charges that the land where the mall is being constructed was transferred by hotelier Harsh Kochar for helping him in acquiring two hotels one in Puri and the other one in Ranchi when he was the railway minister in 2005.

Only scamsters see scams everywhere, says Lalu
Mr Lalu Yadav, however, refused to furnish details of the transaction and also refused to speak on the reasons behind the land deal.  “Only scamsters see scams everywhere, I don’t see anything wrong in the deal as all legal norms were followed at the time of purchasing shares of the Delight Marketing Company,” he said.

The scam came to light after BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi pointed out that Mr Lalu Yadav’s family owned big patch of land in Patna and was also constructing a mall worth Rs 500 crore.