Land-for-jobs case: CBI files chargesheet against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi & Tejashwi Yadav

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday filed a charge sheet against Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad, ex-CM Rabri Devi and incumbent deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, and 14 others in land-for-jobs scam.

The Yadav family has denied the allegations, accusing the misuse of central agencies by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

The alleged scam pertains to the period when the RJD chief was the railway minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The CBI has alleged that between 2004 and 2009, several people were appointed to Group D positions in various zones of Indian Railways, who transferred their land to the family members of the then railway minister.

According to the CBI, no advertisement or public notice was issued for the appointment but some Patna residents were appointed as substitutes in different zonal railways at Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur.

As part of quid pro quo, the candidates, directly or through their immediate family members, allegedly sold land to the family members of Prasad at highly discounted rates, up to one-fourth to one-fifth of the prevailing market rates, the CBI had alleged.

Tejashwi Yadav has denied these allegations in the past, saying that the then railway minister Prasad had "no powers" to give employment in exchange for favours.