Less than a month before assembly polls in Bihar, a Delhi court on Monday framed charges against Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and their son and leader of opposition Tejashwi Yadav in the alleged IRCTC scam case.
The case pertains to allegations that Lalu Prasad, as railway minister, handed over the maintenance of two hotels run by the IRCTC, a subsidiary of the Indian Railways, in Ranchi and Puri to Sujata Hotels, a company owned by Vinay and Vijay Kochhar, in return for a prime plot of three acres in Patna through a benami company.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which had on April 16 filed the chargesheet in the case, had said that there was enough evidence against the accused.
The case relates to alleged money laundering in granting the operational contract of two IRCTC hotels to a private firm.
Special Judge Arun Bharadwaj granted relief to Prasad after he was produced before the court through video conference from a Ranchi jail, where he is lodged in another case, as he was unable to come due to health reasons.
The RJD chief has been asked to appear for questioning at the agency headquarters on September 11.