Businessman Conspired With Lalu Yadav In Land-For-Jobs Case: Probe Agency

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has stated that businessman Amit Katyal, in connivance with RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav, hatched a conspiracy to incorporate a company in ROC Delhi and buy land parcels situated in Bihar from prospective job seekers.

ED said that Amit Katyal hatched this conspiracy when Lalu Prasad Yadav was holding the Railways Ministry portfolio at the Centre.

Advocate Manish Jain appeared for the Enforcement Directorate and submitted before the Court that Amit Katyal knowingly aided and assisted Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members in the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime--by way of the acquisition of the proceeds of crime, concealing the proceeds of crime and then projecting the proceeds of crime as untainted.

"In doing so, he concealed the proceeds of crime from their true origin. While doing so, he knowingly and consciously projected the receipt of Proceeds of Crime as a legitimate transaction by keeping the shareholding of AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd with himself to conceal the illegal gratification and later on transferring it to Tejashwi Yadav and Rabri Devi," Advocate Manish Jain added.

Amit Katyal shielded the real beneficiary of the PoC and then, while transferring the PoC to its real beneficiary, projected the transaction as a normal business transaction, thus indulging in the offence of money laundering, the ED lawyer said.

In the matter, ED, through its lawyer, alleged that Bihar's former Chief Minister Rabri Devi played an instrumental role in the acquisition of proceeds of crime and further usage of proceeds of crime to integrate proceeds of crime in the mainstream economy to project the acquisition of POC as untainted.

According to the Enforcement Directorate, Hema Yadav, daughter of Lalu Prasad Yadav, also acquired Proceeds of Crime under the garb of gifts received from relatives while concealing the real origin of proceeds of crime generated from the scheduled offence. She was actively involved in the process of money laundering as she was the recipient of sale proceeds generated from land parcels, i.e., an original form of POC and later transferred the sale proceeds to her family members through a maze of transactions. A firm controlled by her family members was the ultimate beneficiary of this POC, where P0C was used in day-to-day business activity.

On Saturday, after going through the recent prosecution complaint filed by ED and submissions made by ED Lawyer Manish Jain, Special Judge Vishal Gogne issued summons to all the accused named in the prosecution complaint, including Rabri Devi's two daughters, Misha Bharti and Hema Yadav and others.

Special Judge Vishal Gogne issued summons to the accused persons after taking the Cognizance of Chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The court issued a production warrant to produce Amit Katyal on the next date of hearing. Two firms, namely AK Infosystem and AB Export, have also been accused in this case.

The next date of hearing is February 9.

While taking cognizance of the chargesheet, the court said that there is sufficient material to take cognizance.

ED's had submitted that in 2006-07, A K Infosystem was formed by Amit Katyal and its business was IT data analysis. No real business was done. Instead, several land parcels were bought by the company. One land parcel pertains to the main predicate offence, which is land for a job.

Advocate Manish Jain, special public prosecutor (SPP) for ED, submitted that Amit Katyal is the only arrested accused. Other accused are Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav, A K Infosystem, A B export and Hridyanand Chaudhary. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a Prosecution Complaint (Chargesheet) in Land for job scam money laundering case.

ED has named Bihar's former CM Rabri Devi, her daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, Hridyanand Chaudhary and Amit Katyal. Two firms, AB Export and AK Infosystems, have also been accused.

Advocates Manish Jain and Ishan Baisla also submitted that A B Export was supposed to be in the business of export. It was incorporated in 1996. In 2007, Rs. five crore came through five companies and a property in the New Friends colony was purchased.

According to the ED, the PMLA investigation conducted so far has revealed that several pieces of land at prominent locations in Patna and other areas were illegally acquired by the family of the then Rail Mantri, Lalu Prasad Yadav, in lieu of jobs provided by the railways.

Further, investigation under PMLA revealed that the property situated at New Friends Colony, Delhi (independent 4-storey bungalow registered in the name of AB Exports Private Limited, a company owned and controlled by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and family) was shown to have been acquired at a value of mere Rs 4 lakhs, the present market value of which is approximately Rs 150 Crore.

It is suspected that a huge amount of cash or proceeds from crime has been infused into purchasing this property and a few Mumbai-based entities dealing in the gems and jewellery sector were used to channel ill-gotten proceeds from crime in this regard. The property has been, on paper, declared the offices of AB Exports Private Limited and AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd.; it is being exclusively used as residential premises by Tejasvi Prasad Yadav, son of Lalu Prasad Yadav, a statement said.

During the searches, Tejasvi Prasad Yadav was found to be staying at this house and was found to be using this house as his residential property.

An ED investigation has found that four parcels of land acquired by the family of Lalu Yadav in just Rs 7.5 lakh from poor Group-D applicants were sold to Syed Abu Dojana, a former RJD MLA, by Rabri Devi with huge gains of Rs 3.5 crore in a collusive deal.

ED investigation further revealed that a major portion of the amount thus received was transferred to the account of Tejashwi Prasad Yadav. Investigations revealed that, in a similar fashion, lands were taken from several poor parents and candidates in lieu of Group D jobs in the railways. It has been revealed during the investigation that in many railway zones, more than 50 per cent of recruited candidates were from Lalu Yadav families' constituencies, ED said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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