A Delhi court on Friday ordered the framing of corruption charges against former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members, including his wife and sons, in the land-for-jobs case.
Special Judge Vishal Gogne said that Yadav, a former Union Railway Minister, used the position as his personal fiefdom in order to carry out a criminal enterprise, news agencies reported from the court order.
"The CBI court has framed charges against Lalu Prasad Yadav, Misa Bharti, Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav and Hema Yadav under sections 420, 120B and 13 IPC...Formal charges will be framed on January 29," advocate Azaz Ahmed told news agency ANI.
The court said public employment was used as a bargaining chip to acquire land parcels by the Yadav family in connivance with railway officials and his close aides.
Of the total accused, court framed charges in the case against 41 persons, and discharged 52, which included railway officials. The court has set January 23 as the next date for formal framing of charges.
On December 19, Special Judge Vishal Gogne, while hearing the case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigatiob against Lalu Yadav and others, said that "the order upon charge shall be pronounced on January 9".
During the proceedings, the CBI had submitted a verification report regarding the status of accused persons in the case, saying out of the 103 accused named in its chargesheet, five died.
The CBI filed chargesheets against Lalu Yadav, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, their son Tejashwi Yadav and others in connection with the alleged scam.
It alleged that appointments in the Group-D category of the West Central Zone of the Indian Railways based in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, were made during Lalu Yadav's tenure as the railway minister from 2004 to 2009 in return for land parcels gifted or transferred by the recruits in the names of the RJD supremo's family members or associates.
The CBI also claimed that the appointments were made in violation of norms and that the transactions involved benami properties, amounting to criminal misconduct and conspiracy.
The accused have denied the charges, claiming the case is politically motivated.
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