President sanctions prosecution of Lalu Prasad Yadav in land-for-jobs PMLA case

President Droupadi Murmu has granted sanction to prosecute RJD chief and former union minister Lalu Prasad in the money laundering case linked to the alleged railways land-for-jobs scam, official sources said on Thursday, 8 May.

Murmu has accorded the permission as mandated under section 197(1) of the CrPC (Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023), they said.

The case has been investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and the federal probe agency chargesheeted the 76-year-old former Bihar chief minister, his son and former deputy CM of the state, Tejashwi Yadav and other family members in August 2024.

Before this, in January 2024, the ED had filed its first chargesheet against an alleged associate of the Prasad family, Amit Katyal, and other family members of Prasad, including his wife and former Bihar CM Rabri Devi, MP daughter Misa Bharti, another daughter Hema Yadav and two associated companies — AK Infosystems Private Limited and AB Exports Private Limited.

A special PMLA court in Delhi has taken cognisance of both these chargesheets (prosecution complaints).

The case stems from a CBI FIR alleging that Prasad, the then Union Railway Minister, indulged in "corruption" in the appointment of Group D substitutes in the Indian Railways during 2004-2009.

The candidates or their family members were allegedly told to transfer land as a bribe in return for jobs in the Railways, according to the CBI FIR.

These land parcels were directly or indirectly registered in the name of the family members of Lalu Prasad. The CBI has also filed three chargesheets in this case.