‘Lalu bribed witness in assets case with jobs’

State president of the Janata Dal United (JDU) Rajiv Ranjan Singh alleged on Friday that Railway Minister Lalu Prasad had bribed a witness in the disproportionate assets (DA) case against him. The enticement: jobs in the railway.

Singh told reporters that Ram Pani Yadav was a CBI witness in the DA case. He later turned hostile.

In return, Lalu gave jobs to his son Avinash, son-in-law Vikash and nephew Mukesh, Singh alleged.

Referring to another case, he said Lalu gave a job to a relative of Arvind Mandal in return for land in Danapur. He added there were many such instances in which the Railway minister had bribed people with railway jobs.

Singh said a party delegation would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on August 23 and submit a memorandum and demand Lalu’s dismissal.

“We will give seven days’ time to the PM to take action,” he added.

He added the party would demand a thorough probe into the irregular appointments.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) national spokesperson Shyam Rajak said: “All these allegations are being made just to defame the railway minister...”

He pointed out that the hearing in the DA case against the RJD chief had started in early 2002 and concluded in April 2004. He added that the list of witnesses in the DA case was submitted in early 2002, when Lalu was not a Union minister.