Land-for-jobs case: Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi and Misa Bharti get bail on Rs 50,000 bond

RJD chief and former railway minister Lalu Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti were granted bail by a Delhi court on Wednesday in connection with a case related to the land-for-jobs scam.

The court noted that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the case, filed the chargesheet without arrest. It directed every accused to furnish Rs 50,000 personal bail bond and a similar amount as surety.

Yadav, his wife Rabri and daughter Misa Bharti arrived at Rouse Avenue court this morning. The RJD supremo was seen in a wheelchair.

Sources said the former Bihar chief minister’s doctors will decide shortly whether he will be physically present in the courtroom or not. In case doctors advise against it, Yadav’s lawyers will move exemption and apply for appearance through video conferencing.

Last week, CBI sleuths questioned Lalu Yadav for about two hours in connection with the land-for-jobs scam. A day earlier, his wife Rabri Devi’s statement was recorded at her Patna residence in Bihar.

A team comprising five agency officials visited the Pandara Park residence of Misa Bharti, where they showed Yadav some documents and sought clarifications. The process was videographed. The 74-year-old had recently returned from Singapore after a kidney transplant surgery.

The land-for-jobs case relates to alleged appointments made in the railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold to Yadav’s family when he was the minister of railways between 2004 and 2009.

The CBI in its charge sheet said that irregular appointments were made in the railways, violating the laid down norms and procedures of Indian Railways for recruitment. It said that as a quid pro quo, the candidates directly or through their immediate relatives and family members sold land to the family members of Lalu Yadav, then railway minister, at highly discounted rates up to one-fifth of the prevailing market rates.

Special judge Geetanjali Goel had on February 27 issued summons to the accused persons and directed them to appear before the court on March 15.