Clean chit by CBI to Lalu Prasad in DLF bribery case

NEW DELHI: In a relief to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) founder Lalu Prasad, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has given him a clean chit in connection with a bribery case involving DLF.

According to CBI sources, the central probe agency had initiated a preliminary inquiry for corruption against Lalu Prasad and the real estate developer DLF group in January 2018. The CBI PE was to probe over the allegations if the DLF Group, eyeing rail land lease project in Mumbai’s Bandra and upgradation of New Delhi Railway Station, had bribed Lalu Prasad, a former railway minister with a property in an upscale South Delhi’s New Friends Colony.

The source said that it was alleged that AB Exports, an alleged shell company, had bought a property in New Friends Colony for nearly Rs 5 crore in December 2007 while its actual circle rate was Rs 30 crore at that time. The transaction for buying the property was allegedly funded by DLF Home Developers and routed through Lexis Infotech and a few other shell companies.

However, in 2011, Tejashwi Yadav, and Lalu Prasad’s daughters – Chanda Yadav and Ragini – allegedly bought over AB Exports for a mere Rs 4 lakh by transfer of shares. Thus the property of New Friends Colony was transferred to them. The source said that the CBI had also probed the role of Praveen Jain and Amit Katyal, who executed the transactions between the DLF Group and RJD leader.

The CBI source said that the “PE has been closed as no case has been made out of the allegations”.

According to sources, the clean chit to the RJD leader was given by Rishi Kumar Shukla before his retirement from the top post. Lalu Prasad was granted bail by Jharkhand High Court in April this year in a Dumka treasury case, which is linked to Bihar fodder scam case. He was accused of withdrawing over Rs 3 crore from the treasury. Before the bail, Lalu Prasad spent more than three years in jail.