ED doing its job, Nitish to lead probe: BJP on IRCTC case

Patna/New Delhi : On the IRCTC case against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad and his family, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nand Kishore Yadav today said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is doing its job and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has taken the initiative to lead the probe into the matter.

Speaking to ANI, the Bihar minister said, "The ED is doing its job. The court has also said that investigations will be done on these matters. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has taken the initiative to lead the probe."

"All the scams and black money cases are being investigated and enquired. There is no case left untouched," he said.

Earlier, in the day, the ED attached three acres of land belonging to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and his family.

He added that Lalu Prasad should give an explanation and show from where all this money came.

"If they are not furnishing an explanation then it tells that there is something serious about this," Nand Kishore further said.

Meanwhile, RJD leader Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav said this is a conspiracy by the Central Government and the other investigative agencies.

"Whether it is the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or ED or any other agency, it is a conspiracy done by them. Deliberately they are insulting Lalu ji and his family. People of Bihar are seeing this and they understand everything," Jaiprakash added.

He further said in the coming time, people will give an answer to this in a democratic manner through voting.

"No matter how much they insult Lalu ji, in the end the truth will only win and he will win one day," he asserted.

The ED on Friday attached three acres of land worth Rs 44.75 crore (circle rate) of Lara Project of Rabri Devi and her family under PMLA in connection with the IRCTC case.

Earlier on October 10, Tejashwi was interrogated by ED for eight and half hours.

He was questioned about money laundering in the railway hotel allotment case as the agency was unsatisfied with the earlier probe.

The investigative agency had, in July, registered a corruption case against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi, Sarla Gupta, wife of Prem Chand Gupta, Vijay Kochar and Vinay Kochar, both directors of Messer's Sujata Hotel Private Limited, Messer's Delight Marketing Private Limited, P.K. Goel, the then Managing Directors, IRCTC and others under Section 120B read with Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)d Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 in connection with the case.

The FIR, lodged by the CBI against the RJD chief, stated there were irregularities in awarding the tender for development, maintenance and operation of the BNR hotels in Ranchi and Puri when he was the railway minister from 2004 to 2009.

The investigating agency had alleged the tender process was rigged, manipulated and the conditions were tweaked by the then railway minister to help a private hotel company.