The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is grilling RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday as part of a money laundering case related to the alleged land-for-jobs scandal, a day after questioning his wife, ex-Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, and son Tej Pratap Yadav. Lalu Yadav was joined by his daughter Misa Bharti at the ED office in Patna for the session.
Prior to his interrogation, opposition leader in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav stated that central agencies' actions like this would not scare them. He said, "With elections coming this year, ED, CBI, and Income Tax are playing their role, but it will not rattle us. The central government wants to rattle us but will not succeed. We have been interrogated many times earlier as well, but nothing materialized."
Lalu Prasad, along with his sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, was given bail in this case by the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi last year. Patna Police has tightened security around the ED office for the sake of order as a large number of RJD supporters have collected outside.
On Tuesday, Rabri Devi was grilled for more than four hours, leaving the ED office at 2:45 pm, while Tej Pratap Yadav faced a series of questioning until 4:30 pm. The ED inquiry was centered on six pivotal questions, such as Tejashwi Yadav's acquisition of a bungalow in New Friends Colony in Delhi, the purchase of land in Patna's Saguna Mor, the funding source for building an apartment, and how Rabri Devi procured land that was legally registered in her name. With Lalu Prasad now in the questioning line, political tensions do not seem to die down in Bihar.
The case relates to charges that, while Lalu Prasad held the Railway Ministry from 2004 until 2009, appointments in the Indian Railways were supposedly traded for land which was conveyed to his relatives.
Apart from the ED, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also lodged a charge sheet against 78 persons, including Lalu Prasad, his spouse Rabri Devi, their sons Tejashwi, Tej Pratap Yadav, daughter Misa Bharti, and Hema Yadav. The RJD has severely criticized the timing of these inquiries, stating that they are politically motivated, particularly as the Bihar Assembly elections are soon to be held.
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