A 65-year-old Indian-Amercan doctor, who went to Haiti to attend an IMA World Health's meeting two days before the killer earthquake, had a miraculous escape from beneath tons of rubble where she was buried for 50 hours in a collapsed Port-au-Prince hotel. A slightly-bruised but traumatized Sarla Chand came back home to Teaneck, New Jersey,on Saturday night.
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.
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 agency is probing members of the Lalu Prasad family and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The RJD chief has been asked to appear for questioning at the agency headquarters on September 11.
They had earlier been called on September 11 and 12 but Lalu did not turn up, citing an ongoing court case in Ranchi where his presence was required, while Tejashwi claimed he had political commitments to take care of.
Lalu said the Centre was trying to 'frame' him and his family in 'false cases' out of political vendetta.
RJD leaders attacked PM Modi and CM Nitish Kumar, alleging that it was a malicious exercise.
Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj also issued a production warrant against Prasad in the case.
The action is in connection with its money laundering probe in the IRCTC hotel allotment scam case involving Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and his family.
Rabri Devi's appearance before the central probe agency comes after she skipped similar summonses at least six times.
The case relates to alleged money laundering in granting the operational contract of two IRCTC hotels to a private firm.
The court granted bail to Rabri and Tejashwi Yadav in the CBI case on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of a like amount.
The crisis will strengthen Nitish Kumar's position as Lalu's troubles erodes his bargaining power within the ruling coalition in Bihar.
Searches are being conducted on Friday at 12 locations including Delhi, Patna, Ranchi, Puri and Gurgaon.
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