New Delhi: In the land for job scam in Railways, the CBI told the court of Special Judge at Rouse Avenue that the required sanction to prosecute former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the corruption case has been obtained.

While filing the permission letter, the investigating agency told the court that there are about 30 other accused in the case for whom prosecution sanction is awaited. For this, 15 more days should be given. The court of Special Judge Vishal Gogane directed the CBI to expedite the process of obtaining sanction to prosecute the other accused. With this, the next hearing of the case was fixed on October 15.

Lalu-Tejashwi are on bail

It is noteworthy that the court had asked the officials to decide on sanctioning prosecution against 32 public servants including former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. On June 7 this year, the CBI had filed a chargesheet against Lalu and 77 other accused. There are also 38 candidates among the accused.

On October 4, 2023, the court granted bail to Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and others in connection with the new chargesheet. The second chargesheet includes 17 accused, including Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, the then General Manager of West Central Railway, two Chief Personnel Officers and others.

Why permission had to be taken to file a case against Lalu?

Let us tell you that any government official or member of parliament cannot be arrested just like that. Lalu Yadav was the Railway Minister at that time. Therefore, any MP or minister can be arrested only with the permission of the central government. If someone in a government position commits any wrongdoing in government work, then before taking any legal action, permission has to be taken from the concerned department. Only then can a case be filed against that concerned official or MP.

In the land for job case, the Centre has now given permission to prosecute Lalu Yadav and has sought time to grant permission to prosecute 15 officials.

This is the whole matter

The CBI had registered a case on May 18, 2022 against the then Railway Minister, his wife, two daughters and unknown public servants and others. It is alleged that Lalu Prasad, while being the Railway Minister during the year 2004 to 2009, had received benefits through land transfer in the name of family members in exchange for the appointment of candidates to Group-D posts in various railway zones. Candidates residing in Patna or their family members sold or gifted their land to the family members of the minister and a private company controlled by him. No advertisement or public notice was issued for such appointments.

Job was given in group D

The Patna people appointed were posted on Group-D posts in various railway zones including Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur. The accused collected applications and documents from the candidates through their associates and sent them to West Central Railway. The General Managers of West Central Railway approved their appointment. An indirect method was adopted for this. The candidates were initially kept on alternate posts and later made regular.