NEW delhi, Sept. 11 -- A Delhi court on Thursday ordered framing of money-laundering charges against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav in connection with alleged irregularities in the leasing of two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels when Lalu Prasad was the railways minister. In a detailed order, the court said that there existed "a strong suspicion" that an "abuse of office" by Lalu Prasad Yadav created proceeds of crime in the hands of his wife Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav who continue to enjoy the use of this tainted land at a priced commercial avenue in Patna. "The land at Patna is proceeds of crime," the order said. The judge Vishal Gogne directed that charges be framed against the accused persons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. At the outset, Special Judge Gogne described the case by quoting Rabindranath Tagore from the 1917 book Nationalism, stating, "Whenever power removes all checks from its path to make its career easy, it triumphantly writes into its ultimate crash of death, its moral break becomes slacker every day, without its knowing it, and its slippery path of ease becomes its path of doom." The court said, "Some dubious deals are indeed cut in plain sight with the public layers serving to camouflage. This court would rightly observe that Special MP/MLA courts exist precisely to detect such mass and circuitous deals which strike faustian bargains to trade public trust and assets for personal gain." The court said that prima facie, a tender came to be manipulated when Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Union Railway Minister between 2005 to 2014, when tenders of railway hotels at Ranchi and Puri were awarded to Sujata Hotels as a "quid pro quo". Following this, the court noted that the Directors of Sujata hotels, namely accused Vijay and Vinay Kochar, transferred their primary land in Patna to a company named DMCPL, held by co-accused PC Gupta and Sarla Gupta, close associates of Lalu. The court said, "Sarla and others subsequently transferred land to Rabri and Tejawshwi at pittance. The new entity which controls this virtually freebie land is Lara Projects LLP." The court framed money laundering charges against nine people, including former Bihar chief ministers Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi and their elder son, Tejashwi Yadav. Seven others were discharged for lack of evidence. The court said formal charges will be framed on October 3. The court said that there were adequate reasons for framing of charges against the accused and the defence argument that the Enforcement Directorate's material was devoid of evidence and the documents were without merits, stood rejected. "The nature and timing of filing of the case and chargesheet are not motivated by any political vendetta against Lalu Prasad Yadav," the court held. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) allege that Lalu Prasad and IRCTC officials misused their official positions to rig the tender process, granting the sub-lease rights for two railway hotels in Ranchi and Puri to Vijay and Vinay Kochhar's firm, M/s Sujata Hotels Pvt. Ltd. Investigators describe the arrangement as a classic quid pro quo, wherein public contracts were allegedly exchanged for valuable private property, land, and company shares transferred to the Yadav family at throwaway prices. The Enforcement Directorate filed its first chargesheet in the case in 2018 and also named Rashtriya Janata Dal leader PC Gupta, his wife Sarla Gupta, firm Lara Projects and 10 others. In return for the hotel sub-lease, 358 decimal of prime land in Patna was transferred in February 2005 to M/s Delight Marketing Company Pvt. Ltd owned by the family of PC Gupta. The agency further alleged that this company, which possessed a valuable piece of land, was gradually taken over by Rabri Devi and her son Tejashwi through the purchase of shares at nominal prices. According to the agency, the funds used to acquire the land had a dubious origin and were allegedly laundered through 151 group companies linked to P. C. Gupta, using an NBFC named M/s Abhishek Finance Company Limited. The agency also noted that the funds used by Rabri Devi to acquire these shares were questionable. Additionally, individuals from whom Tejashwi purportedly purchased shares denied any knowledge of holding such shares, the agency claimed....