Amit Katyal, the main accused in the Land for Job ‘scam’, was granted bail by the Delhi High Court recently. In a chargesheet filed by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) which is investigating the case, it has been stated that Amit Katyal’s company AK Infosystems Private Limited was taken over by former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and her son Tejashwi Yadav in 2014 by paying just Rs 1 lakh. However, the firm had assets worth Rs 63 crore at that time.
Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family has been accused of acquiring Amit Katyal’s company.
The ED has claimed in its chargesheet that the main conspirator in the Land for Job case is Lalu Prasad Yadav. In its supplementary chargesheet filed recently, ED stated that then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family had taken land from people as bribe in the name of giving jobs in Railways. It has been alleged that Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family is in possession of the illegally acquired land.
ED has also stated that during the investigation it was revealed that Lalu Prasad Yadav decided that he would take land as bribe in lieu of jobs in the Railways. He was being supported by his family and close aide Amit Katyal at that time.
There are plots of lands bought at very low price right next to the land of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family, the ED claimed.
Lalu Prasad Yadav’s son and former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, is also under the ED scanner for this case. ED has stated in its charge sheet that Tejashwi Yadav had bought a bungalow worth Rs 150 crore in Delhi’s New Friends Colony at a cheap price which was also taken from a candidate applying for a job in the Railways.
In the chargesheet, ED has claimed that after acquiring the land, AK Infosystems transferred 85 percent shares to Rabri Devi and 15 percent shares to Tejashwi Yadav on June 13, 2014. Following this Tejashwi Yadav became the owner of the land held by M/s AK Infosystems Private Limited. Moreover, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family took possession of the property worth Rs 1.89 crore by paying only Rs 1 lakh.
According to the facts found by ED during its investigation, the market value of AK Infosystems’ property on June 13, 2014 was worth Rs 63 crore. The company worked as a tool for Lalu Prasad Yadav to hide the proceeds of crime generated in scheduled crimes, so that any clear connection between the illegally earned income and its real beneficiary can be hidden.
The ED has claimed that Tejashwi Yadav has links with another company, AB Exports Private Limited (ABEPL), which is also controlled or operated by Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family.
According to the claim in the charge sheet, Tejashwi Yadav has a 98.25% stake in the company, while his sister Chanda Yadav has 1.75% stake in it. It has been claimed in the charge sheet that ABEPL bought a residential property and a bungalow D-1088 in New Friends Colony for Rs 5 crore in 2007 using fully convertible debentures from five shell companies. The ED charge sheet states that Tejashwi Yadav bought shares of ABEPL in 2010 by paying only Rs 4 lakh.
Whenever Tejashwi Yadav is in Delhi, he resides in this bungalow in New Friends Colony, ED officials said on the condition of anonymity. Earlier in a press statement in March 2023, the ED had claimed that the current value of this bungalow is Rs 150 crore.
The ED has filed two charge sheets in this case so far, in which apart from Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and Amit Katyal, the ED has also named Lalu Prasad’s daughters Hema Yadav and Misa Bharti. In a first, the ED has summoned Lalu Prasad Yadav’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav in the case.
The CBI has claimed that Lalu Prasad Yadav committed a significant ‘scam’ during his tenure as Railway Minister from 2004 to 2009. Under the land for jobs ‘scam’, land and property were transferred to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family members in lieu of giving jobs in the Railways. In exchange for plots of land, jobs were given on a large scale in zones in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur.
According to the allegations, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family had acquired more than 1 lakh square feet of land in Bihar for just Rs 26 lakh, whereas according to the government rate of that time, the price of the land was around Rs 4.39 crore. In most of the cases, the transactions were done in cash.
The CBI has alleged that land was transferred from the candidates applying for jobs in Railways to Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav. M/s Ek Infosystem Private Limited and AB Export Private Limited Company were also involved in this ‘scam’.
Amit Katyal has also been accused of setting up companies for Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family and later allotting shares of those companies to his family by taking a nominal amount. After being arrested by the ED, Amit Katyal is now out on bail.
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